Further
by Akanee1
Summary: Trigger warnings: Assault/Rape "Ana was fighting an internal battle, drowning as she tried to stay afloat; Vaas was the anchor pulling her deeper as she struggled to remain at the surface. To maintain what little sanity she still held on to..." Rated M for language, violence, sex, drugs, smut, smut & smut, etc... Vaas/OC
1. Chapter 1

**[A.N.] This is my first time publishing a fanfiction, I really only write them as a hobby... A little nervous lol But anyway, I started writing this a really, really long time ago and have quite a bit of the story already written out. Sooo, if you like, let me know and I'll post more :) If you hate, let me know what you hate/ideas for improvement and I'll work on it :)**

**Also I really don't know my way around this site when it comes to actually publishing/uploading so if I screw up something please let me know 3**

**Trigger Warnings: This story contains a lot of abuse and some rape. If these themes trigger you please skip out on this story.**

The tall, thick blades of grass sliced into her bare legs as she ran, leaving a series of long, paper-cut-like slits as they slid across her pale skin. She had lost a shoe in the struggle and sharp pains from the rough jungle terrain shot through the sole of her left foot. Gunshots and screaming echoed from the beach behind her, the heat of the jungle made her blouse cling to her sweat-soaked skin; breathing was becoming more and more difficult. Suddenly, her burst of adrenaline ran out and her legs shook before giving out beneath her as she fell to her knees. Gasping for air, the girl crawled behind a large rock, covering her ears and mumbling pleas for her life. It felt like forever that she'd been running through the jungle, but in reality it hadn't been even ten minutes since her group was attacked. She ran over the events in her mind.

The stranger at the bar in Bangkok had told them they'd have a great time on this island. He told them it was inhabited only by peaceful indigenous people, completely uncharted, _the most beautiful place on earth _he said, with the freedom to do whatever their hearts desired. After the stress her group had dealt with the past year it was too good to pass up. They got in the small private plane and flew to Rook Island. The stranger was right; it was the most beautiful sight she'd ever laid eyes on. The crisp, green foliage of the jungles, the crystal clear, aquamarine blue of the ocean and gorgeous white-sanded beaches... But immediately upon landing they were surrounded by men in red. They didn't look like the peaceful indigenous people he spoke of.

One of the red-clad strangers, a large, broad-shouldered man with a handkerchief hiding the lower half of his face, walked up and opened the plane's door, smacking the side of the plane with a massive, calloused hand. One by one the passengers climbed out, hands in the air, guns were pointing at them from every direction, slight jerks of the weapons directing them which way to go. _Pirates? _The large man handed the pilot a thick stack of money and waved him off.

_Shit..._ was all that was going through the girl's head. She looked around frantically at her companions, the pirates started to bind their new prisoners' hands with thick rope. Her eldest cousin, Rick, gave her a meaningful look. He nodded slightly and the girl furrowed her brow. Very slightly he moved his lips, silently mouthing out the word _run_.

Before she could react, he turned and threw his arm forward, his fist connecting with one of the men's faces. She couldn't remember everything after that, their captors were all over Rick in a fraction of a second, beating him with the butt ends of their guns and fists. His girlfriend Jenny was staring with wide, tearful, blue eyes, clearly in shock as he screamed for her to run. Rick's brother, Jared, ran over with his girlfriend Mei in tow, and gripped his cousin's arm tightly, pulling her along behind him.

"Ana, fucking run!" he screamed.

With that all the blood in her body rushed to her limbs and Ana ran like hell into the jungle. The rush of adrenaline had her pushing so hard her legs screamed in protest as pain coursed through them. She didn't even realize when Jared and her got separated, she just ran until she couldn't anymore.

Now huddled in fear behind the rock Ana tried to control her breathing, she heard a distant voice yell about finding 'the redhead' and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, her stomach churning. Minutes passed and she began to hear the crunching of dirt, leaves, and twigs under heavy boots.

_This can't be happening_, she thought as the footsteps approached closer. The reason her two cousins and their girlfriends came here in the first place was to take their minds off a family tragedy. They were a small but very close-knit family and the passing of her cousins' mother took a heavy toll on all of them. Ana's mother had died during birth and her father shut down afterwards so her aunt took her in. Her cousins were essentially her brothers.

She pinched her engagement ring with her thumb and index finger, twisting it back and forth quickly, her fiancé, David, couldn't be with them. He was supposed to come but was away on a business trip so, unlike her cousins, Ana had come alone. She was thankful David was safe, it was the only positive thing going through her mind.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. They couldn't be more than a few meters away. In a desperate attempt to hide, she carefully flattened herself down on her belly and slid along the thick dirt, crawling deeper into the brush.

"Where the fuck is that bitch? Boss'll be pissed if we lose one." A voice sounded from directly behind her and she froze, face down in the dirt, just before a boot caught her ankle.

She shut her eyes tightly, praying that he'd mistake her for a root or something, then she felt the burning pain explode across her scalp as the pirate yanked her upwards by the roots of her hair.

"Found her!" the man called to the others in a heavy accent, "Can't hide with hair like that." He scoffed at her.

Ana had long, naturally bright-red hair, she cried out as he tightened his grip, pulling her against his body and spinning her around.

"Mmm..." he hummed crudely, biting his lower lip, "I claim copper-top here." He said as another man came up behind him.

Ana's grey-green eyes darted between the two of them, now-pale lips parted slightly as she started to tremble, tears threatening to spill over.

"Vaas'll decide on that. If she's expensive, she's a hostage. Otherwise I'm sure boss can sell her for a good price. If not... just _try _and keep her for yourself." The second man laughed, "Like a porcelain fuckin' doll." He ran the tip of a hunting knife across her cheek, drawing goosebumps as she shuddered with disgust.

"The fuck you morons doing in there?" a booming voice called from the beach, "If you've got her then get the fuck over here. We're loading up in the truck now and taking them to camp!"

The men shut up, quickly bound her arms behind her back, and dragged her through the brush towards a large truck. Before she could let the sight of them dragging Rick to his feet, bloodied, battered, and unconscious, sink in; they roughly gagged her, yanked a sack over her head and threw her into the back of the truck. The sack reeked and Ana wondered how many people had worn it before her, she tried not to even think about the foul-tasting rag in her mouth. She heard the hysterical cries of Rick's girlfriend Jenny and muffled groans from the others and they bounced around in the squeaky, old truck.

It wasn't long before they were pulled roughly from the vehicle and tossed to the ground. The sacks were torn from their heads as Ana and the others were grabbed by their tied arms and dragged through a makeshift entrance, large planks of steel and logs making up the walls surrounding the camp. Men in red were everywhere; staring them down, laughing, making crude gestures and whistling at the girls. Ana was still taking in her surroundings, looking for a way out, when she felt the heavy boots of one of the captors slam into her calves, knocking her to her already scraped and bleeding knees. The others were lined up beside her, Mei whimpered next to her before breaking into tears, sobbing with her head hanging down hopelessly.

"Mei, baby," Jared whispered, "Everything's going to be ok, I promise we'll get out of this ok?" He tried to sound strong but Ana could hear the fear cracking his voice.

Suddenly a silence fell on the camp; a man with a mohawk came to stand directly in front of them, scanning them with wild, light-brown eyes.

"How can you promise that? Huh?" he asked.

Jared stared up at him wordlessly. Ana turned her attention the ground, letting her long, red hair fall like a curtain over her face. Pleas and prayers for salvation pounding in her head, hoping that at any second she'd wake up back at their hotel in Bangkok.

"Hah, where are my manners? Welcome, first of all, to my island. Isn't she beautiful?" The man announced, with a terrifying air of casualty to his voice.

Ana peered through her hair to see him spreading his arms out proudly before hardening his tone.

"You're in my fucking kingdom now. I decide," He came closer, speaking directly to Jared, "if it's going to be ok... or not."

The man stared daggers into Jared, before completely changing his tone again and stepping back energetically, washing his gaze over them with a wide smirk.

"Ok, so who do we have here?"


	2. Chapter 2

The man with the mohawk held out a hand and his men began plunging their hands into the captives' pockets. He waved his hand around impatiently and it was soon filled with the tourists' wallets.

"So, we have... Rick Benet." He whistled as he directed his finger to Ana's eldest cousin, letting out a single breath of a laugh at his bloodied appearance, being held up to rest on his knees by one of Vaas' men, still unconscious, "From California," He paused with a smirk, "Thirty-two years old, blah blah blah... Shitty job..."

He rummaged through the rest of the contents of the wallet then let out a huff of air. The wallet hit the ground, stirring up a small circle of dust in the dry earth. He moved onto the next.

"Jared Benet, twenty-five... you brothers?" he asked, "Hm?"

No one spoke and Ana looked up to see him visibly clenching his jaw. Then he snapped so quickly she jumped and started trembling, tears stinging her eyes.

"Ay, hermano. I asked you a fucking question! HEY! You fuck!" He screamed, his voice getting shrill, rage tearing through his vocal chords, "You answer me when I fucking ask you something! Do you understand?!"

Jared nodded fervently, "Y-yes, yes, I'm s-sorry, we are, yes. Brothers. Sorry." He stammered, sweat beading on his brow.

"There, was that so hard? Hm?" The man smiled; the eerie calmness returned again, it was clear to Ana that he was completely insane, "Ok. Let's see..." he continued, clicking his tongue in his mouth as his eyes skimmed through the wallet.

He raised his eyes again, looking disappointingly at Jared with a shake of his head and tossed his wallet to the ground by Rick's, "Not looking too good for you guys, I'm gonna be honest with you."

He held out his hand again. A henchman passed him another. A pink wallet encrusted with rhinestones.

"Mei Chen, twenty-seven, whew, loooots of credit cards in here, ay chica?" he winked at the still sobbing girl, "Aw, look at this," he pulled something out of the wallet and showed it to the henchman, "Isn't that sweet? Hm? A nice graduation picture with mama y papa... That's an expensive school no? And they look like they love you... very much." He nodded his head to the left.

"Yes, Vaas." One of the many pirates nodded and grabbed Mei by the arm, pulling her to her feet and taking her off to the left of the encampment.

Ana gasped, watching Mei as she screamed and struggled against the man's grasp. Jared scrambled to his feet just to be kicked back down, screaming his girlfriend's name until he was punched hard in the head by the large, brutish man from the beach and fell to the ground writhing in pain.

So this was Vaas. Ana had pictured someone older, larger, taller... this man appeared to be in his late twenties, and wasn't what immediately came to mind when she envisioned a pirate lord. His appearance wasn't as intimidating as she imagined, but his personality sent terror coursing through her entire being.

After looking through Jenny's wallet and giving another disappointed sigh he nodded to the right and the pirates collectively murmured happily. Ana feared the implications behind their contentment.

Finally it was her turn. Vaas opened her wallet and his expression fell, "Another Benet. Sister?" he asked and Jared hastily answered him.

"Cousin."

Vaas pulled out her ID, the only item inside, and threw the wallet, with more aggression than the others, into the dirt. But then his eyes widened slightly.

"Anaïs... twenty three."He said, her full name sliding perfectly from his lips in its proper pronunciation, "Habla espanol, hermana?" he asked.

She stared at him through her curtain of hair. It had been ages since she had heard her name pronounced as her mother intended, usually only by people of French and Spanish decent. Not with the English twist of _'An-EY-is'. _Suddenly she snapped back to reality, he was awaiting an answer and she didn't want him to yell again.

"N-no. My mother was French." She replied shakily, assuming he was wondering about the origin of her name.

"And what happened to your mama?" he asked, walking closer to her.

"She d-died giving birth to me."

"And your papa? He still around?"

"I wouldn't know."

"So..." he exhaled, squatting down to face her, "You have no family? Aside from these worthless fucks?"

The question hit her hard. Other than David, she really didn't. Her parents were gone from her life; all four of her grandparents had passed away. Her mother was an only child, and her father's brother has been in and out of jail since she could remember, after her aunt had died last month of cancer all she really had were her two cousins as far as family goes.

"No." She said in a hushed tone, deciding to leave David out of this, she couldn't bear to think of anything happening to him, and god forbid he came looking for her or Vaas got a hold of his information.

"That's unfortunate." Vaas whispered, inches from her face, his tone venomous, "no mama or papa looking for you, no familia... You four are all pretty useless to me. I can't ransom you, because there's no one to pay up. That Asian girl however, I'm sure her parents will pay top dollar for her. That other girl," he nodded in the direction they had dragged Jenny, "I could try to sell her, but eehh, she not too pretty ay? I'll let my men keep her."

Ana shuddered, nausea hitting her like a ton of bricks, bile burning at the back of her throat, "Oh god..." she whispered, swallowing hard.

"And you..." He pulled a dagger from a strap on his side and parted one side of her hair with its sharp tip, "Aaaahh." He smiled widely laughing once then sticking his tongue out and biting down on it in a cocky grin.

The girl had beautiful bone structure, defined cheekbones and a lovely jaw-line. She had fair, flawless skin aside from a single beauty mark that rested under her right eye, towards the end of the apple of her cheek. Perfectly plucked and shaped eyebrows sat above dark, grey-green eyes, shielded by long, thick, lashes. Her nose was straight and her lips were a light pink, a cupid's bow shape to the upper lip and a plump bottom one. He used his free hand to roughly push the rest of her flowing red hair from her face and firmly grabbed her chin.

"Now _you_," he smirked, licking his lower lip suggestively, "_you_ can fetch me a good price." He moved his thumb up, roughly running it along her lower lip.

She whimpered and her eyes widened, tears spilling over, he seemed to take great pleasure in the look of terror on her face, squinting his eyes slightly and scanning her face.

"Let her-" Rick had regained consciousness, pausing to cough up blood, "L-Let her go. You- y... you sick fuck!" He wheezed and groaned in pain.

Vaas exhaled loudly through his nose, Ana could see his Adam's apple move under stubbled skin as he swallowed hard and tightened his jaw. He slapped his hand to the side of her face, just hard enough to make it sting slightly.

Vaas stalked over to Rick. He stopped, unmoving, silent, in front of Ana's cousin. They stayed that way for a few seconds, and then Vaas' foot connected with Rick's stomach. He doubled over in pain, coughing out more blood and crying out.

"What did you say? I'm a sick fuck? Think you're tough shit? HUH? This is _my_ fucking island! _I'm _the one with the dick here! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He kicked him again and yanked Rick up by his hair, forcing him to face him.

"Please!" Ana felt the word escape her mouth as she cried.

"On my island, you're my bitch. _You fuck_. Comprende?" Vaas growled and Rick gasped out a _yes_ as blood streamed from his mouth, Vaas dropped him to the ground and Rick writhed in pain, "Puta madre..." he muttered, "Carlos, escort this fuck to my beach. Felipe, tie up the young one, call Buck and see if he wants to make an offer." He trekked back towards Ana, as the massive man from the beach, Carlos, threw Rick over his shoulder and walked towards the entrance of the camp.

"Please..." she was repeating the word over and over quietly, tears rolling down her cheeks, she heard Rick screaming for Jenny as they dragged him away.

"I swear to god if you hurt her! Jen!? Where are you? No- Fuck you!" His screams got further and further away as he was pulled out of the camp.

"Please, no..." Ana wept and trembled, her whole body quivering with fear.

"Hey, hey, hey." Vaas was upon her again, he knelt down, taking her face gingerly in his calloused hands, he thumbed the tears away from her cheeks, "Hey, don't cry, s'ok, nothing's going to happen to you. Not yet anyway. You and that Mei girl are the only ones of _real _value to me."

Suddenly Ana felt a wave of rage wash over her, she snapped her head up to face him, he watched her intently, there was something in his eyes that looked genuine. She was sure it was part of his act of mockingly trying to cheer her up. She noticed for the first time a long, thick scar running from his left eyebrow and up over the dome of his head. He had dark circles under his eyes, honestly he looked exhausted. His brown eyes bore into hers, waiting. Waiting for her to do something stupid. She did.

Ana spat in his face, "You fucking savage! How can you do thi-" she was silenced by the back of his hand.

Her head snapped abruptly to the side, face stinging from the slap, her teeth ached from hitting together with the impact. She started weeping loudly, crying and begging to be let go.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Stop fucking crying!" Vaas yelled, gripping her arms so tightly she was sure to have bruises and shaking her roughly.

She forced herself to stop, hyperventilating as she struggled to keep from making any noise. Vaas loosened his grip and shook his head.

"Anaïs, Anaïs, Anaïs... look what you made me do." He brushed hair from her face, inspecting the swelling, red marks his knuckles left on her cheek, "You think I want to hurt you, hermosa? Hm?" he laughed. The way he spoke to her made her sick, "I think you owe me an apology. Do you have any idea how fucking rude that was?" He explained, grabbing her face and forcing her to look him in the eyes, "C'mon, hermana, don't keep me waiting."

Ana wasn't one to take risks but since she was going to die or be sold into sex slavery anyway she wasn't about to kiss the man's ass that was ending her life.

She glared at him, his cocky smile faded, "Fuck. You." She whispered through angrily clenched teeth, leaning in close to his face.

Ana waited for a second blow, but it didn't come. Instead, a wide smile slowly crept onto his face. His grip loosened on her face, his rough fingers trailing slowly down to her neck. His touch made her skin crawl.

"Fuck me?" he asked, the smile still in place, his fingers trailed further down, sliding between her cleavage until the top button of her blouse stopped him, "Ok." He shot daggers at her with his eyes, a horrible glare that sent her heart falling into her stomach.

A wave of nausea crashed over her as she realized what he was going to do. He stood up quickly, yanking her up with him, "You!" he pointed at one of his men, "Start getting the details about that Asian girl's parents. Tomas, tie the blonde one with the others, do whatever the fuck you want with that one. I'll be in the far shack, don't anyone disturb me. Unless it's _really_ fucking important."

He dragged Ana behind him, deeper and deeper through the massive encampment, passing cages full of people tied to the bamboo bars of the small prisons. Passports, wallets, family photos and IDs littered the ground. A couple of dead bodies lay around and a few people were being led with sacks covering their heads up onto a platform where men with rifles awaited. He pulled her further into the camp, yelling at her when she started dragging her feet, until they reached a secluded shack at the far end of the camp.

Vaas shoved Ana roughly through the door; she collapsed on the floor and kicked around, scurrying against the wall, as far away from him as she could. It was a fruitless attempt; Vaas barred the door behind him and turned to face her. She trembled against the metal wall of the shack. He shook his head and let out a breathy laugh before walking up to her quickly, pulling her to her feet and slamming her against the wall. He pinned her bound hands over her head with one of his. With one swift movement he grabbed at her chest and tore her blouse down with his free hand, buttons flying everywhere. Tiny clinking noises sounded around them as the buttons bounced around the shack.

"No!" Ana screamed, "Please, oh my god, don't! I'm s-"

Vaas' forearm landed on her neck, she choked and gasped for air, "It's too late for apologies now chica. I have to punish you, teach you not to be rude, you know? Give you some _manners_. I suppose not having parents has something to do with your rudeness, but don't worry, Vaas will educate you."

He removed his arm and she took in as much air as her lungs would allow as he slid his hand behind her back to unhook her bra. She dreaded the fact that she was wearing as strapless bra as it fell to the ground with a simple flick of his fingers. Her breasts weren't particularly large, she had always had a fairly curve-less body in the breast and bottom department, she supposed it was because she had always been slender, and probably just genetics. She did have a slight curve at the hips though that she was fond of.

Vaas let out a taunting hum of approval and reached down, adjusting himself in his pants. Ana gagged and threw her head back looking at the ceiling as tears blurred her vision. She fought against the convulsions in her stomach as she felt him press up against her, his growing erection digging into her hip as she twisted away. His fingers found their way to the button of her shorts and she started shrieking. She writhed against his hold, kicking his shins; he dropped her to the ground and straddled her. Holding her down on her back and slamming her head onto the floor. Ana cried out in pain, wailing for help, begging for him to stop.

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut the fuck up!?" Vaas screamed in her ear, she felt his hot breath on her neck and it made her shudder with disgust, "Now, one more fucking peep out of you and I'll kill you, you understand? Don't cry. Don't fucking beg. No more, or I'll cut you open and feed you to the fucking pigs, you understand me?" his voice strained with how loudly he was screaming at her.

With that he flipped her onto her stomach and she heard him unbuckle his belt. She bit down on her lower lip, tasting the metallic tang of blood as her teeth broke the skin. Vaas held her face to the ground with one hand and used the other to hold her arms behind her back. She hadn't even realized that he had gotten her shorts down. His hand briefly left her arms to push her panties aside. Without any warning he positioned himself against her and thrust inside, she couldn't help but cry out at the searing pain.

It had been months since David and Ana had had sex; he was busy with work, always going on business trips as he was rapidly moving up in his company, and recently she was dealing with the death of her aunt. With all the stress and work they hadn't really had the chance, or been in the mood, in a long time.

"What did I tell you?" Vaas whispered threateningly in her ear, briefly running the tip of his tongue along the shell of her ear, relishing at the whimper it drew from her.

"I can't," she cried softly, "It h-hurts..."

"Oh, I'm sorry honey," Vaas mocked, running his hand over her hair, "You want me to be fucking gentle with you?!" he shouted before bucking his hips into her with as much force as he could muster, grabbing her arms with both hands now and pulling her back onto him as he pushed forward into her.

Ana cried out repeatedly and Vaas didn't care anymore, he was focused solely on his pleasure now. Ana shut her eyes and tried her best to leave the scene, thinking of David, being back in California with her small family, blocking out the pain the best she could. Vaas growled, low and feral, clamping his hands down on her hips, nails digging into the soft flesh. He pulled out quickly as he found release and Ana fell limp like a rag-doll on the ground, completely defeated and utterly violated.

Vaas collected himself, still breathing heavily as he dragged Ana over to the corner of the room, cutting the ropes from her arms and chaining her to a bar on the wall. The chains were painfully tight and dug into her wrists. Vaas squatted down to her level and brushed her fiery hair from her forehead that had been sticking with perspiration.

"Was it good for you too, honey?" he asked snidely, running his palms down her chest to cup at her breasts.

Her eyes were empty, lifeless, silent tears streamed down her face. Vaas came close to her face, sliding his stubbled cheek across her bruised one as he places his lips crudely against her ear.

"I think I'll keep you." He grinned as these words broke her further, Ana hung her head and wept silently.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple days had passed since her last encounter with Vaas; Ana awoke and cracked her neck. Her entire body ached and when she shifted her position all of her muscles protested. Her arms were still bound above her head with the chains. A small, barred window above her let in a thin stream of orange sunlight. So it was early morning. She struggled to get to her feet and got up on the tips of her bare toes, peering out the window. The pirates were everywhere, and so were hostages. She recoiled when she witnessed one of the pirates dragging Jenny along behind him into a hut.

Ana slumped back against the wall and slid down to the dirty floor. Through the thin trickles of light she could see dust and filth moving around the air with every humid breeze that wafted through the bars. Her eyes lazily scanned the small room for what seemed to be the millionth time. The only contents, aside from herself, were the old table, the boxes of junk under it, and barrels and crates of assorted useless items in the corner to her right. Ana didn't know what the shed was previously used for. Judging by what it held it seemed like just a normal shed, letting useless junk and broken tools gather dust.

The only thing that made it unusual was the out of place looking bar, drilled tightly to the wall, that held her chains. It appeared to be a more recent addition, the metal was a bit shinier and cleaner in comparison to the walls. The only marks on it were the ones she had made from struggling against it. At least she thought, upon further inspection she noticed there were older scrapes and gouges in the pole as well. It sent a traumatizing surge through her head, if there had been others that Vaas had confined in here for himself, where were they now?

She sighed, feeling her body tremble. How had everything gone so horribly wrong? They weren't even supposed to be on the island. The trip was for her aunt, getting sicker and more depressed she wanted to visit Bangkok one last time, where she originated from.

Ana felt a warmness within her when her aunt insisted she join them. They weren't related by blood, her Aunt had been married to her father's brother before his problems with the law, so when Ana was invited she really felt like she had a mother all along. But she passed away before they could go, so Ana and her cousins went instead, to honour her and try to escape from the pain for a while. Just to be met with much more it seemed. She wondered where Rick and Jared had been taken... she hoped they were still alive. She felt numb, like her mind was rejecting that they were possibly hurt or dead, it was as if they were different people. She couldn't understand why she felt this way but assumed it was some kind of fucked up defence mechanism.

She realized that she should have reacted much more strongly the day they were taken, fought for her cousins, the only family she knew, cried more, been more afraid. Maybe she was in shock. She figured that made the most sense. Ana looked up at her left hand, bloodied from struggling against the chains. Her engagement ring was glistening a little less than the morning before. Covered in dirt and dried blood. Before she could think any longer, the door swung open. Vaas walked in with a dirty glass in hand and an equally dirty wooden bowl in the other. He approached her silently and she pulled in his direction, her bare feet slipping on the floor as she fell back to the ground. Her mouth began to salivate, water... Vaas pushed the junk aside on the table and hoisted himself up to sit on it, never taking his eyes of her.

Ana realized she was still half naked. Her shirt was torn and hanging open, revealing her bare chest and all she had to cover her lower half were her panties. She hunched over, trying to hide her chest with her long hair.

"Thirsty?" Vaas asked, downing the glass of musty water in one shot.

Ana's heart sank, and he gave her a look that suggested she had better answer in words, "Y-yes, I am." she forced through bared teeth.

He smirked, "Hungry?"

She nodded once and Vaas got to his feet, stalking over to her and putting the bowl down in front of her. Ana attempted to reach for it but was met by the clanging of the chains on the bar. She couldn't even bend down low enough to eat like an animal. Vaas watched her struggle with delight for a few moments before unchaining her left hand. Ana shoved a handful of the pasty mixture in her mouth and her palate was attacked with the bitterest food she'd ever eaten. She gagged and doubled over.

"What? You don't like the food that I made you?" Vaas said, seemingly insulted.

"What-" Ana gagged again, "What is it?"

"The only food you'll be getting for a while so I suggest you eat it, and be fucking grateful about it." He replied more seriously.

She sighed and slowly picked at the food, getting more nauseated with every disgusting bite.

"So your friend Mei is about to be released."

"What?" Ana took her attention away from the food.

"Your Asian friend, her parents paid up yesterday."

"You're letting her go?" She asked.

"I'm a man of my word," he placed his hand over his heart, then added with a sly grin, "when the mood strikes."

Ana sighed with relief, then hesitantly asked, "And the others?"

"That's my business."

"If I'm expected to stay here with you, can't I at least know what happened to my family? Since I won't be seeing them ever again..."

Vaas looked frustrated, he got up and walked over to Ana, towering over her and looking down. The orange sunlight leaking through the window made his tanned skin glow and his eyes all the more piercing.

"I don't have to tell you anything, hermana."

"Then just tell me this," She demanded, "and I'll never ask anything of you again. I'll stay here with you, and I'll be..." she was struggling to find the right word.

"Obedient?" Vaas raised his scarred eyebrow.

"Compliant." She muttered, the other word reminding her of how one describes a pet.

"Very well, the answer may upset you though," he looked pleased about that, she nodded slowly and he smirked, "The blonde girl, Jennifer was it? She's being transported to one of my outposts on the island; some of my men have taken quite the liking to that chica. She'll likely bounce around from place to place, coming back here every once in a while. Mei's going home, as I said, and Jared is in the process of being sold to that sick fucker, Buck, we're negotiating a price."

Ana closed her eyes and let out a huff of air, furrowing her brow, "And Rick?"

"Don't worry about Rick."

"He's dead isn't he." She glared.

"I said, don't fucking worry about it." He sounded out each word like he was speaking to a child.

Ana sighed with defeat and let her head fall back against the wall. Vaas nudged the bowl that rested between her knees.

"You don't want this? You're not going to eat the meal that I slaved over for you? Hm? You know how fucking rude that is? We've already gone over this manners thing."

"I'm not hungry anymore." She barely whispered.

"Ok." Vaas kicked the bowl across the floor, scattering the remaining gruel on the ground.

He started unbuckling his pants and Ana's body stiffened; she backed up, trying to melt away into the wall.

"I have a long day of torturing and killing ahead of me," he explained, "I could use a bit of stress relief."

"Please, n-"

"Ah, ah, ah! What happened to obedience? Ay, Anaïs?" She stared up at him with tearful eyes, "Do you _WANT_ me to feed you to the pigs? 'Cause I can easily make that happen. You're my property now, you do what I say, when I say it, and if you don't, I fucking kill you, simple as that."

He continued to undo his pants, Ana continued to watch his face, hoping he'd take pity on her, although she knew it wouldn't happen. The man was a psychopath.

"I don't particularly want you dead yet. But if you aren't _compliant_, that's the word you used right? I won't hesitate. Now," he dropped his pants to the floor, and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her face towards his crotch, "comply."

Ana hated the way he kept using her wording to toy with her. She felt the bitter mixture in her stomach rising, she forced it to stay down and raised her free hand towards him, gagging once more before shakily opening her mouth. Vaas growled deeply with frustration and grabbed either side of her head, shoving himself past her lips and forcing her head back and forth. She began to cough and choke, gagging with disgust as he moaned teasingly. She slapped her free hand against his hip, digging her nails into the toned skin in a desperate attempt to get him to stop; worried he'd kill her for sure if she bit down. Vaas let out a hiss of pain and reached down to pull her hand from him. Suddenly his thrusts stopped and he yanked her head backwards.

Choking up saliva and bile, Ana gasped for air before doubling over and heaving, retching up the small amount of food she had ingested.

"What the fuck is this? Hm? Anaïs? Anaïs, what the fuck is this, ay?" he twisted her arm uncomfortably, pulling her up so that she was hanging awkwardly in his grasp, "You fucking married? What's this fucking ring?"

"Eng-" she choked up more vomit, and when she finally caught her breath she told him, "Engaged..."

"I see... You didn't mention this when I asked you about your family the other day. You hiding things from me, hm? This fiancé of yours, he have a lot of money?"

"No." She lied, not wanting to get David involved, "We were l-living paycheck to paycheck."

"That's a shame." Vaas said, dropping her hand.

The look he shot her suggested that he was up to something, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. He grabbed a wooden barrel from the corner of the shack. He placed it in front of her then grabbed a twisted piece of metal from one of the crates under the table and exited the shack. Ana backed up against the wall as far as she could again, she could feel her vomit warm under her legs and shuddered. Vaas returned a second later and grabbed her arm, slamming it down on the barrel; he got on his knees across from her and pulled out his hunting knife.

"Oh god no... No, please!" Ana begged, "Please don't! No!"

"_Compliant_." Vaas reminded her in the calmest of tones as he securely pinned her hand down and bent her fingers painfully closed, keeping her ring finger out straight.

"You fucking monster!" She cried, "Help!"

"Hey, shut up, you'll fuck up my aim." He warned, with no actual care in his voice, and swung the knife down.

It caught the side of her finger, just below her knuckle, and she let out a blood curdling scream. The pain was white hot, she couldn't breathe.

"Hey, don't fucking move! It's still hangin' on there a bit." Vaas laughed as if the situation was hysterical, pressing the knife down with all his might and successfully severing the finger, "Be right back." He said, hopping to his feet like an excited child and bursting out the door.

Ana was frozen, too afraid to look, too afraid to move, in too much pain to do anything. The horrible crunching sounds of the blade's teeth as they were forced through bone still played in her mind. In no time Vaas returned again, the piece of metal had been heated and he grabbed her hand and pressed the stub against it, cauterizing the wound with a sickening sizzle. Gasps for air and pitiful sobs escaped Ana's lips and she fell to the ground as the smell of charred flesh filled the shack. Vaas removed the engagement ring from the stub of her finger and pocketed it; he could sell it for a decent price.

He pointed at the writhing heap on the ground that was Ana, "Now, don't forget who you belong to."

Ana looked up at him, a pathetic look on her face, she felt like she could die of pain. He was about to say something else when there was a frantic knock at the door.

"What the fuck do you want?! I'm in the company of a lovely young lady here!" Vaas shouted.

"It's Carlos, boss." The booming voice answered, "Skydivers just landed on the island, some scouts said there were five or six of them."

Vaas paused and smiled, chuckling and turning to Ana, "Continuara." He purred, crudely squeezing his crotch, "See you later, mi hermosa, you want water? Mangoes?"

Ana nodded as much as she could muster, her eyes heavily lidded, weak with pain. Vaas clicked his tongue and pointed at her before rushing out the shack and locking it behind him. Ana lost consciousness almost immediately after.


	4. Chapter 4

**[A.N.] Think I might stop here for a while to see if there's any interest. I know this type of story has been done a million times and I'm sure there are many similarities to other fics as well as better written ones lol, so I was a little reluctant to post this in the first place. Anyway, here's chapter four :P**

Vaas came through the door to the shack with great energy about him. Mumbling happily about all the 'expensive white people' he had just acquired. Night was beginning to fall and his boss was on his way to discuss business and the new captives. He just wanted to check on Ana first.

"Anaïs, sorry, hermana. I forgot the water and mangoes, I'll bring them next time." He laughed to himself, "Anaïs. Get up." He said more demandingly, his grin fading.

He bent down and smacked her face lightly. Her skin was void of warmth and pasty with a sheen of cold sweat covering every inch. He shook her gently, then with more force.

"This isn't funny, Anaïs, wake the fuck up. You better cut this shit out right fucking now!" He growled, slapping her a bit harder and shaking her face, "Ah, puta madre..." he reached up to her chained hand that was still hanging above her from the bar and undid the bindings.

Her arm fell limply across her chest. He dragged her away from the wall, laying her flat on her back and felt her chest for a heartbeat. She was really cold. He brought a hand to her neck and felt the faint, uneven pulse, moving his hand to her open mouth he realized she wasn't breathing.

"Fucking-" he looked around frantically, "CARLOS! Bring me that shit that chemist made!"

"The drugs, Vaas?" Carlos answered.

"No, the fucking medicine!" He called back.

Vaas brought his mouth down to Ana's, parting her lips further with his fingers and breathing into her. He alternated chest compressions and mouth to mouth. He was actually convinced she was as good as dead, which would be a shame because he was having so much fun with her. He continued to work on her body while he waited for Carlos with the adrenaline and medication.

Ana started to come to. She felt his lips on hers; she had missed him so much. She closed her lips around his and raised her arm, with more effort than expected, to hook around David's neck. Vaas wasn't one to give up an opportunity so he opened his mouth, deepening the kiss, his tongue sliding into Ana's. Her taste buds were overwhelmed with the powerful taste of alcohol and cigarettes, her eyes flew open and when she saw the scarred, mohawked head above her she yelped and punched him in the jaw, if it could even be called a punch.

Vaas pulled away after the light hit to the face, laughing to himself, "You're... fucking s-sick." Ana said weakly, her arm thumping limply to the floor.

"Is that how you thank me for saving your life?" He looked genuinely offended.

"Th-thank you." Ana heard herself mumble, although she felt like she'd rather be dead right now.

Carlos opened the door and, to Ana's surprise, Vaas quickly pulled her blouse closed, covering her naked breasts, "Can you knock before entering you fucker?" he snapped.

Carlos apologized and dropped a bag of meds at the entrance, telling Vaas that one of the camp's medics was on the way and that the new hostages were being bound in cages. He handed his boss a cell phone, saying it belonged to one of them and suggested he watch some of the video footage with a short laugh. Vaas took the phone and shooed Carlos out the door. He slipped the cell into his back pocket and kneeled down, tying Ana's blouse so that her breasts were covered. As he got up to leave he heard the girl make a weak sound.

"What?" Vaas turned around impatiently.

"Why?" she repeated, raising a shaky hand to point to her chest.

Vaas took a few steps towards her, looking down on her again, "Because you're mine." He said matter-of-factly, "No one gets to see you; no one gets to fucking touch you. You'll have no one but me, until you die."

Something about his possessiveness over her made her feel oddly safe, it was hell belonging to Vaas, but she knew he wanted her alive now, so maybe he would protect her.

"And you will die." He added ominously before leaving the room.

His final words spun around in her head the whole time that the medic was working on her, disinfecting and bandaging the stub that was once her ring finger, giving her an adrenaline shot, morphine, blood? She couldn't keep her eyes open, all she knew was that the pain vanished and she started to feel livelier.

Of course he was right, she wasn't built for the jungle, and she didn't know how much more of his torture, rape, and abuse she'd be able to handle before she lost her will to live completely. You had to be an animal to survive out here, and she could never be like Vaas. She knew she would die. Sooner rather than later. And she was alright with that if this is what her future held. If she was to be stuck in this dark, putrid shack getting fucked and abused by a psychopath for the rest of her life then death was definitely the better option.

Her thoughts drifted to David, he would never know what happened to her. He could definitely guess and would probably be pretty close, that they were taken, killed, sold, whatever. Either way he'd have to accept that she was gone. Would he move on? Marry someone else? She hoped he would. She wanted him happy.

She pushed the thoughts of her now ex-fiancé out of her head. Maybe she could stay alive. But she'd have to get Vaas to trust her. Maybe, just maybe, she could gain his trust enough to sneak away. Steal one of the trucks and drive until she found a safe place. It was worth a shot. Like Vaas said, she was going to die anyway.

Night fell and she could hear Vaas screaming outside. She got to her feet with more ease than she expected and grabbed the windowsill. Peering out she could make out Vaas' silhouette in the moonlight, yelling at people bound in bamboo cages a few meters away.

"HEY! You fuck! Look me in the eye! You're my bitch. I rule this fucking kingdom. Shut the fuck up. Or you die."

He continued to talk to the two men while Ana took in her surroundings, bodies hung from a kind of structure around a bunch of bamboo cages, suddenly an unfamiliar voice called out.

"Vaas! Stop scaring the hostages, I need you to take care of the rejects."

Ana ducked down as the man came into view, he was well dressed and looked very out of place. Vaas left after a few final words to the men in the cage and Ana stood on the tips of her sore toes again, one of the prisoners had his back to her, built, with short hair and a red t-shirt. The other was much skinnier, with shaggy hair and a blue shirt. He caught sight of her and strained to see her but she ducked back down.

She remained hidden for a while until she heard a bang; the larger man had knocked the guard unconscious against the cage and opened the door.

Ana gasped as the men slipped out, crouched as they sneaked away, the larger man in the lead, as the thinner one passed she whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Wh- What? Who are you?"

"He'll kill you." She warned.

"Come with us. We'll get you out..." he suggested.

Ana considered it for a second but shook her head, far too afraid, there was no way they were going to sneak out of the camp, it was crawling with pirates.

"I can't." She shook her head repeatedly.

"Jason, let's move!" the other man called in a hushed tone.

"Just come with us, my brother's ex-military."

"No..." she shook her head more fervently, "Don't... He'll kill you!"

"Jason! Leave her, let's go!"

Jason looked back up at her from his crouched position, "I'm sorry." He said and disappeared from her line of sight.

Ana turned and went to the door of the shack, realizing for the first time that Vaas hadn't chained her back up before leaving. She got down on her hands and knees and peeked through the crack under the door. She saw the shadows of the two men pass by and shook her head. They were morons. Only a few minutes later she heard dogs barking wildly, and a short while after that, a gunshot. There was a lot of commotion and she could hear Vaas screaming in the distance, followed by a series of gunshots that disappeared slowly from earshot.

It was quiet for a long time after that. Ana curled up on the cold floor of the shack and tried to sleep, she placed her right hand on top of her left one to use them as a pillow and felt a burning pain on the top of her left. She held her hand into the moonlight and saw that a letter 'V' was burnt crudely into the flesh on the back of her hand, just below the stub of her ring finger. It fit perfectly right in the fleshy areas between her bones and looked to have been pressed in like one would brand a cow with a hot iron. She simply stared at the mark and the mangled finger where the symbol of her love for David once sat, before rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling as the moonlight poured across her thinning body. Hoping sleep would come.


	5. Chapter 5

**[A.N.] Okay, I lied. I'm bored, so have another. Would love some feedback. Like? Hate? Let me know :3**

Vaas burst through the shack door, cursing in Spanish and knocking the table over. Ana was jolted from sleep and plastered herself against the wall as the boxes beneath the table, and junk atop it were disrupted and strewn across the floor. He turned his attention to her and seemed to calm down a bit.

"She lives." He muttered, "Your colour is coming back and everything." He waved his hands around his own face.

She could tell something was wrong. He was more on edge than usual, "What happened last night?" she asked, surprised when he threw the table back into its normal position and sat on it.

"Two hostages tried to escape. Fucking expensive ones. I shot one," he made a gun with his hand and raised it to his neck, making a clicking sound with his tongue, "But this skinny piece of fuck got away and killed one of my men."

Ana couldn't believe he made it. She hoped he managed to get help or alert authorities somehow, a small glimmer of hope appeared amidst the darkness. She decided she would start working on gaining Vaas' trust and pray that something good came of the escaped hostage soon. She opened her mouth to ask him a question and he tossed her a crumpled, dirty, plastic bottle of water. She caught it and looked at him with genuine gratitude before gulping it down in one shot.

"Thanks... Thank you..." she breathed, the water was stale and stagnant, but much appreciated.

"You're welcome." He said, glaring at the floor.

The words sounded strange in his mouth, as if he was addressing her as an actual person and not property. Ana got to her feet shakily and carefully took a step in Vaas' direction. He noticed immediately and his head shot up, watching her with an intense gaze that gave her goose-bumps.

"Can I..." she stopped herself, fearing more abuse, Vaas raised a dark eyebrow impatiently and she swallowed hard, "Can I please go outside?"

"Fuck you say?" he asked incredulously with a breathy scoff, "Why the fuck would I let you outside?" It was barely a question.

"I had the opportunity to leave last night." She said.

That caught his attention. He stood up, at least a foot taller than her, watching her face for any signs of untruth.

"The men that left, they offered to break me out. Take me with them. Said one of them was in the military and could do it..." She explained, making sure to look directly into his eyes, when he said nothing she continued, "I didn't want to. I don't want to leave."

"Bullshit." Vaas gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with hatred.

"I swear. I want to stay. I'm safe here." She was only partially lying on that one, "I know so long as I'm here, and don't... piss you off or something, that I'll be alright."

"So you want to stay here just because you know you'd die faster out there." He jeered, the left corner of his lips pulling up slightly.

She took a deep breath, "I don't even want to go home anymore." She was certain he wasn't buying it and squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

"You're telling me, that you've been here for a week and you're already done with your old life? You don't want to go home, you don't want this... this _David_, you don't want nothing?" he asked skeptically.

"Pfft, I'm not an idiot, I know I'm not getting out of here. And I know I'm not gonna make it out of this alive. You'll get another girl, do me in, give me to your men, sell me, whatever... So I may as well accept it. Am I wrong?" she looked up at him challengingly.

Vaas smirked; this dull girl was starting to show some of that attitude from the day he'd first acquired her again, he took her by the arm and opened the door, "You can come with me but only to get those mangoes I mentioned the other day. If you stray too far from my side I will put a bullet through your head, comprede?"

"I understand." She said, still holding his gaze.

"Bueno. But first, lemme get you some clothes."

Stepping outside and feeling the sun kiss her skin was amazing. The violet halter-top and jean shorts Vaas had given her to wear clearly had come from another hostage or, as she had heard them be called, _rejects_. Specks of darkened blood stained them, and the halter top had a tear across the side. She tried not to think about it. They passed a pigpen with a hog eating human remains, chomping down on slick, bloody entrails in a bone-filled enclosure. Ana gasped quietly and reached out, grabbing Vaas' bicep. She immediately pulled away, as if she had accidentally touched a burning stove-top and circled around to walk on the other side of him, avoiding the sight. Vaas' smiled and shook his head, muttering something inaudible under his breath.

They arrived at an area with a wooden canopy and Vaas took her by the shoulders and sat her down. He headed into another shack to retrieve mangoes and a bottle of liquor. He rolled two mangoes across the table to her and took a seat, popping open the bottle and drinking from it directly.

Ana devoured the mangoes. She eagerly sucked the juice out and gnawed desperately on the meat of the fruit, relishing in the flavour and the wetness that filled her dry mouth.

"Perhaps I should feed you more often." Vaas pondered, sliding a jug of water across the table to her and taking another swig from his bottle.

"I'd appreciate that." She replied sarcastically, opening the jug and taking a long sip.

"Don't get snappy with me, chica." He said calmly, the drink seeming to mellow him out, which Ana was thankful for.

Eventually, some of his men came to the table asking to speak with him about the escaped prisoner. They were saying some of his scouts had caught sight of him zip-lining down from one of the blocked radio towers and that it was now back online. They also hesitantly mentioned that he had taken over one of their camps with the help of some of the indigenous, releasing the captives held there. Vaas flexed his jaw and got to his feet.

"Excuse me, mi hermosa; I need to speak of private matters. Stay here, or you die." He shrugged off the obvious statement as if he was getting tired of repeating it, then grabbed his bottle and left with the pirates.

It was simple as that, do what he says or die. The sunlight slowly faded and Ana reached into her pocket, pulling out a couple of the remaining pain killers the medic had given her and popped them before drifting to sleep, her arms resting on the table. She was shaken awake by a large hand on her shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" A deep voice demanded.

Carlos. The hulk of a man towered over her, he must've been only inches away from seven feet, He reached down and lifted her up with ease.

"Hey- wait! He said I could-"

"Bullshit, I'm taking you back." He growled, dragging her beside him as she pounded on his arm, fearing what Vaas would do to her if she wasn't where he left her, or what Carlos might do at the shack.

Her greatly injured hand screamed in protest as she punched his arm, blood starting to soak through the bandaged stub as she hit him, the 'V' stinging with every hit.

"Stop, put me down! You fucking asshole!" she bit down on his arm, her teeth breaking through his thick skin as he let out a deep yell.

Carlos threw his arm to his side and flung Ana into a pile of crates containing empty, unmarked bottles of alcohol. Her head collided with the corner of one of the boxes and she scratched her forehead, it didn't hurt and was only a small cut but she could feel blood running down her face. Some of the bottles clattered to the earth, luckily none of them breaking on impact. Ana wiped the blood from her eyes as it trickled down and was about to get to her feet when a familiar burning pain shot through her scalp as he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her to her feet, she let out a scream.

"You dumb bitch! I ought to snap your neck right fucking here." He dragged her closer to him, a large hand approaching her neck.

"VAAS!" she felt his name rip through her throat, piercing enough that she was sure the whole camp heard her, or at least she hoped. The name felt foreign in her mouth, it was the first time she had ever used it.

In a matter of seconds, a more-than-slightly intoxicated Vaas stormed out of a nearby hut and took off running, albeit a bit sloppily, at full speed towards Carlos and Ana.

"What do you think you're doing, you fuck!?" He screamed, grabbing Carlos by the arm, "Put her fucking down, pendejo!" his words flowed together uncharacteristically as he slurred.

Carlos immediately dropped Ana into the dirt and Vaas strung together a long list of Spanish obscenities.

"You don't touch my fucking property," Vaas pulled out his pistol and pointed it directly in Carlos' face, "This," he turned his gun to Ana, causing her to cringe at the weapon, "She, is MY! FUCKING! PROPERTY!" he slammed the pistol repeatedly against his own chest with great force.

Carlos nodded, "Yes, Vaas... It won't happen again." He gave Ana a look that left her feeling very worried, before stalking off angrily, shouting at the crowd of chuckling men that had gathered.

"Vaas, I swear I didn't leave the table, I tried to stop hi-" She was cut off by Vaas hoisting her up over his shoulder.

Walking towards the centre of the camp, he entered a large shelter, with armed guards on either side of the door and snipers on the roof. He barred the door behind him and walked down to a room with a large bed. Nothing especially decent like back in California, but nice by these standards. He threw Ana down on the semi-comfortable mattress, walked angrily to a cabinet and grabbed tissue and adhesive bandages. Vaas then grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the bedside table and crouched in front of the girl, who had moved into a seated position at the end of the bed. He wet the tissue with the alcohol and wiped it, rather aggressively, across her fresh cut.

"Ow..." Ana breathed quietly, wincing at the burning of the alcohol.

He then tore off a small square of bandage and pressed it roughly onto her forehead with his thumbs. She wasn't sure why exactly he was taking care of her. She assumed maybe it was some kind of ego thing. He didn't want to see marks that another man left on her body, whereas he was proud of his own. Maybe he saw them as a way of showing possession, marking territory. _Well obviously he does..._ she thought, looking down at the 'V' permanently burnt into the skin on her hand. She was jerked from her thoughts when Vaas suddenly pushed her onto her back and climbed on top of her.

"Please, no." Ana shook her head gently, pleading eyes burning into his.

"Shut up." He demanded, more gently than usual, "You owe me." Vaas' voice slurred, his breath reeked of hard alcohol, "Spread you legs for me, baby."

The tone of his voice sent shivers across her skin. It sounded almost sweet, completely out of place given the situation. It made her skin crawl. However, she knew it would only be worse if she refused him, so taking one last look at his lust-filled eyes, Ana shut hers, and shakily parted her knees.

Transporting herself to another place, Ana remembered her first time with David, how gentle he was with her, even though she wasn't a virgin and they could have been a lot rougher, they had made love. Nothing like how Vaas does it. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, pretending it was David on top of her as Vaas pushed his way inside of her. His girth made Ana wince, but she focused on imagining the man she loved. Maybe it was just the pain killers kicking in but the fantasy started to feel almost real, the feeling of him sliding in and out, his thickness filling her completely drew a soft mewl from her lips.

Vaas threw her legs over his shoulders, taking her reaction as encouragement, and continued to grind his hips rhythmically into her. Ana started to breathe faster, and Vaas felt her getting wet around him, it became easier and easier to move inside of her. He smirked proudly to himself, bringing his mouth down to her neck and nibbling softly. Ana abruptly realized the reason she was able to go to that other place was because Vaas wasn't being violent with her.

The sudden realization caused her to frown, he was moving in her deeply, skillfully, but it was clear that, for once, his intention wasn't to cause her pain. He trailed kisses down her neck and across her collar bone, running the tip of his tongue up over her chin before pressing his mouth to hers. Ana parted her lips, eyes always closed, and experimentally ran the end of her own tongue quickly across his lower lip. Vaas responded immediately, plunging his tongue past her lips and grabbing the back of her head, quickening his rhythm slightly.

It continued that way for a while before Vaas had a realization of his own, "Ay," he called breathlessly, "fucking open your eyes. Look me in the fucking eye."

He stopped moving and Ana's eyes opened cautiously, Vaas stared daggers at her and her dilated pupils were quickly flooded with horror. He bit his lip hard, rage bubbling in his chest as he understood why she had been so willing. Without warning he turned his head and bit down on her neck, right where it met her shoulder. She let out a cry of pain as she felt her skin shift oddly, his teeth breaking through. Vaas pulled away to admire her neck, already bloody and bruising with individual teeth imprints. Her eyes were wide with fear at the look he had now, no longer were his eyes half-lidded and lustful, they were wild again, her blood dribbling out through his parted lips.

"Say my name." he ordered, slamming into her painfully, "Come on, say it. Tell Vaas how much you fucking like it. How fucking wet _I_ make you!" he yelled in her face, pinning her head in place with his hand, forcing her to look at him.

Ana winced, "You- you're hurting me!" she cried.

"Say my fucking name, you bitch!" he slapped her hard across the face and she choked out his name, sobbing loudly as tears streamed down her face.

"Va-as!" She wept and Vaas pulled out without finishing.

"Shut up..." He growled, placing a joint between his lips and lighting it.

He pulled his pants back on, sighed and leaned back, taking a long toke. Ana started to sob louder. She immediately felt dirty, disgusting, ashamed that she had let herself enjoy it for even a second. She was surprised that Vaas hadn't made any snide comments yet. He just let her recoil from his body, curl up and cry. Maybe alcohol made him more lenient after all.

After a few more minutes it seemed he'd had enough, "Get your pants, I'll take you back." He slurred, getting up from the bed.

When they were dressed, Vaas escorted a trembling and crying Ana back to the shack at the edge of the camp. He stood in the doorway while Ana stumbled in and fell to the floor, collapsing in on herself. She watched his face as tears continued to run down hers. She saw something else in his face in that instant, an expression of sadness... sorrow. She saw the tired eyes of a man who had lost his humanity a very long time ago, who let himself be taken over by insanity. A man that was broken.

Vaas hesitated in the doorway for a moment before simply saying, "I have the matter of that Jason kid to look into, I won't be around for a few days. I'll let Tomas know to bring you water and food." He turned to close the door.

"Vaas," Ana called just loudly enough for him to hear.

He froze in the doorway at the sound of his name in her small voice. Turning his head slightly to show she had his attention.

"I'm sorry." She wanted to explain that it was a defence mechanism, but that would probably make her harder to trust and much less likable to him.

Vaas shrugged uncaringly, and closed the door, locking it. When Ana couldn't hear his footsteps anymore she broke down, hugging her knees to her chest. She wondered if it would ever get easier, if her days would ever end off without her sobbing, alone, in the dark. She prayed that Jason was doing well, that he would help her escape like at the other camp. Ana hated herself for being to scared, too weak to leave with him that night. But she would hold out as long as she could, hoping that the unlikely hero would soon storm the camp and end her suffering.

Ana's tears finally stopped flowing and a sad smile crossed her face as she shut her eyes, imagining the day that she would look up and see Jason standing over her, his hand extended, there to take her away from it all.


	6. Chapter 6

**[A.N.] Fuck it, have another lol. This is a long one... Not too crazy about some parts of it, might come back and tweak it a few times, but this is where Ana's view of Vaas starts to shift. (For now at least..)**

**I know I said this before but I'm really going to stop uploading at this chapter, I've almost posted half of what I have and don't want to run out of chapters to churn out before I even get some feedback lol. I'd like the be able to upload chapters regularly so I want to have multiple ones completed at a time. Hopefully at least a few of you are liking, I write this stuff anyway to alleviate boredom so if even one person wants to see how it ends I'll keep posting.**

**Anyway, here's six.**

**x**

It had been almost a week since Vaas had been gone. Ana had heard the pirates talking about how Jason was completely overpowering Vaas' outposts, killing off his men, strengthening the resistance single-handedly. _Vaas must be fuming... _She chewed her lip, hoping she wouldn't have to serve as his punching bag when he returned.

Tomas came in with her rations for the day, Vaas had instructed she be chained to the wall by her right hand at all times while he was away and that no one but Tomas have access to her. Tomas was young, Ana assumed he was about the same age as her, if not a bit younger. He had a jagged scar running over one of his blue eyes and his dark brown hair covered most of the other side of his face. He placed a bowl of rice, a mango and bottle of water on the floor in front of her then let out a huff of air. Tomas untied the bandana he had wrapped around his wrist and wiped his face before folding it into a thick strip and tying it around his head. He growled under his breath about the heat and pulled repeatedly at the hem of his shirt, trying to air it out.

He was right, it was particularly humid that day, Ana could taste it in the air with every breath, making it difficult to breathe. Tomas muttered again almost silently that they were probably going to get hit with a storm soon. She wondered if he was trying to start conversation or just talking to himself. She had caught him mumbling to himself quite a few times though, and he was never particularly chatty with her anyway so she ignored his comments. Hoping he was right about the rain.

"Any news?" Ana asked as her food tray was slid closer to her across the floor by Tomas' boot.

"Vaas is planning on trapping Brody in an old temple, using his girlfriend as bait. I think he's going to burn them alive inside. He's still working out some stuff, hoping to set it up in a tomorrow." Tomas explained, "I wish I was out there to help bring that little shit down." He shot her a resentful look.

"And I wish I wasn't chained to a wall with nothing but a bucket, the bare minimum of rations, and only someone as _delightful_ as you to talk to. Oh, and while lying in my own vomit for six days." Ana shrugged with a weak smile.

Tomas let out an airy laugh through his nose, stifling a smirk at her sarcasm, and nodded before exiting the shack. Ana rested her head against the wall; she was thankful that she hadn't been abused or violated in so long but had also admitted to herself two days ago that it was really lonely without Vaas around. She still hated him, and was absolutely terrified of him, but she missed the conversation; Tomas only came in once a day and rarely spoke unless something big was happening. He was probably to scared to, since he was among the crowd during Vaas' little tantrum with Carlos. Even if Vaas was just yelling at her most of the time, it was still better than solitary confinement. And if anything happened to him and he didn't return, she didn't want to think of what the other men would do to her. She realized that despite the fear and torture, Vaas was most likely the only reason she was still alive, and if she wanted to stay that way until Jason came; she needed him.

Ana's back leaned against the wall and she sighed deeply, prodding at the hardening rice with her finger, not looking forward to waiting out the rest of the day .

Tomas was right. Ana was jolted from sleep late that night by a thundering crash that shook her shed. She gasped, trying to escape the unknown disturbance just to be pulled back by the chain on her wrist. She looked around, breathing erratic, before the last of her sleep wore off and she realized that they were caught in a tropical storm. She sighed with relief but was immediately upset again as the rain poured in through the open bars of the window. Lightning flashes lit up the small shack as the rain formed puddles on her floor, ruining the rice she had decided to save as the shallow bowl filled up and overflowed onto the filthy floor.

Her body trembled against the wall as the freezing water pelted the shed, she stood and alternated holding each of her feet out of the cool puddles. Her hair started to stick to her face as the rain drenched it and she cursed Vaas for chaining her directly below the window.

The storm finally stopped after what felt like an hour later, Ana had gotten exhausted from standing and had retreated to her normal huddled position on the floor. Her body was quaking and her teeth clicked together painfully. Her body was nowhere near ready for this drastic change in temperature.

She was surprised when the lock clattered and the door opened slowly, not expecting it at all, she raised her head.

"Vaas?" She asked softly to herself as another crash of thunder echoed in the far distance.

To her surprise Tomas walked in. She frowned, Vaas would be furious, he wasn't supposed to enter except to bring her food. She panicked wondering what his intentions were, pushing as far away from the entrance as she could, pressing herself hard against the wall.

"W-what the he-hell are you d-doing?" she managed through her chattering teeth.

He said nothing, but approached her a threw a blanket over her head. The smell of mildew made her wrinkle her nose and by the time she pulled it roughly from obstructing her view, Tomas had shut the door and the lock slammed into place.

Ana looked down and saw an old cup sitting before her on the floor, and was pleased to see that some of the water on the floor had escaped through the open door. She reached out and pressed her fingertips to the cup, surprised when it was hot to the touch. She brought it up to her nose and smelled it. It was just hot water, with what smelled like a hint of something citrus. Ana blew the steam from the drink and brought it to her lips, shuddering as the heat of it seemed to course through her entire body when she swallowed. She pulled the odorous blanket around her shoulders, with some effort due to her hanging right arm, and savoured the hot beverage. She decided not to dwell on why Tomas had given it to her, assuming Vaas had instructed him to keep her from getting sick as well.

When she woke, the blanket and cup were gone. Ana frowned, sitting up on the damp floor and looking at the usual bowl of rice, mango, and water bottle before her. The only good thing about the storm was that it washed away a bit of the grossness on the floor, she felt slightly cleaner too.

She groaned, leaning her head on her knees and wondering when Vaas would be back, her arm had fallen asleep again and her body ached from not being able to move around much.

"Come on..." She whined.

Then suddenly, as if on cue, she heard a pirate yell out that the boss was back. She felt her heart pounding as she tried to scramble to the door, a useless endeavour as she was chained to the opposite wall. She waited for what seemed like hours before she finally heard the lock turning on the door.

"Hola, Anaïs." He announced, much more personality in his voice than when he had left, "I have good news, I'm a fucking mastermind, you know."

"You're back." Ana breathed, pulling against the chain.

"Jason Brody is history. Won't have to worry about that piece of fuck ever again."

"That's... good." Ana nodded hesitantly, she felt like her heart was being crushed in a vice, the small gleam of hope burning out completely. She felt like weeping.

"And how have you been my pet? Did Tomas take good care of you or do I have to shoot him? I see you're healing well, hm? That's good." He said, taking in her appearance.

The cut on her forehead was gone, his brand on her hand had almost healed into a pinkish-white scar, a little bit of scabbing remained, her gory shoulder was now just twin crescent scabs, and the bruises from their last encounter had faded away.

"Good." He repeated, "Ah, I'm so tired hermana, chasing that fucking little white boy all over my damn island was exhausting." He took his usual seat on the table.

"Do you... um." Ana bit her lip, feeling disgusted with herself, "Need some... stress relief?" She felt chills cover her flesh at her own proposal, but now that Jason was gone she really needed Vaas to like having her around.

Vaas laughed and shook his head, looking at her like she was a foolish child speaking nonsense, "Very kind of you to offer, Anaïs," goosebumps raised across her arms at the sound of her name in his accent, "But I actually have a question for you. Did you miss me? Hm?"

"Yes." She said awkwardly, shaking her head. She felt odd, flustered, her heart beating fast with relief, she really was glad to have him back.

"Mm." He sighed tiredly as he got up off the table and quickly undid the binding on her wrist, pulling her up to her feet.

Vaas pressed his body up against hers, pinning her against the wall slowly but firmly, and lifted her up, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist. She expected him to ravage her but a strange look crossed his face, the one she saw before he left, as if he completely let his guard down. The pain that his extreme personality normally hid had revealed itself again. Ana could smell the faint aroma of alcohol as he breathed and she parted her lips, looking up at him with genuine sympathy.

Vaas lifted his hand to cup her face gently, a kind of touch he had never given her before, running his rough thumb gingerly over the apple of her cheek, massaging his fingertips along the back of her neck. His eyes held an emptiness that made her worry her brow and she felt her own hand rise automatically to his face.

"What happened to you?" she whispered against her better judgement, barely audible as her fingertips grazed the stubble on his cheek.

Vaas didn't answer, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards slightly. He took her hand from his cheek and ran his thumb over the 'V'. He smirked and some life came back to his eyes, he dove for her mouth, crashing their lips together and pressing his body harder against hers as he sucked in a deep breath through his nose. His eyebrows were knit together in a hard frown that just ebbed with hurt, she wondered what he was feeling right now that caused such an expression.

Ana's hands fluttered tentatively across his broad shoulders and muscular back before lacing her right fingers in the base of his mohawk. She felt a heat course through her abdomen as Vaas' palms slid down her sides, calloused fingers dipping under the filthy halter-top to squeeze her hips.

"Mmh, Vaas..." she breathed when their mouths parted for a moment.

Her own voice caught her by surprise, something was wrong with her, she felt like a robot, like she wasn't in control of herself. A strange feeling of depersonalization that seemed oddly natural at the same time. She tried to fight back and realize that how she was reacting to his touches was totally irrational... but she couldn't, and she didn't want to... It scared the hell out of her. But in that moment, with that look on his face, the sensual way he ran his hands across her body and kissed her deeply, she felt a part of herself longing for him. As if experimentally, she felt his name slip past her lips again when he tilted his head to suck at the hinge of her jaw.

Vaas brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Shh, shut up." He frowned, pulling away and allowing her to place her cold feet back on the ground.

Ana was confused by his rejection, she looked down and frowned, wondering if she'd crossed a line by using his name. However, she then heard what he must have, a series of vehicles speeding up to the camp.

"The fuck is it now?" Vaas groaned, heading for the exit, he was about to slam the door when Ana caught it.

"Can I-?" she asked, he nodded, quickly threatening that if she wandered off she was dead, and gripped her bicep painfully, pulling her alongside him as they rushed to see what the commotion was.

"What the fuck happened?" Vaas demanded as a group of men exited jeeps, some riddled with gunshot wounds, and rushed towards him.

"Snow White." One of the men spat.

Vaas' eyes were filled with intense fury, he stood unmoving, his entire body tense. Ana could feel the waves of anger rolling off of him as she stood beside him.

"What about him." He hissed through clenched teeth.

"He got away! The temple collapsed but he got out, with the girl too." A man answered, clutching his bloody waist, "We followed but he escaped, took out many others with the mounted gun on the Jeep they stole..."

There was a brief silence and then Vaas chuckled. Ana stepped behind him; anticipating an explosion. But he said nothing. Instead he pulled a semi-automatic weapon from his holster and sprayed away, blowing away all the men that stood before him. They crumpled to the ground, bullet holes covering every inch of their bodies. He shot until the clip was through and tossed the weapon to the floor. Vaas screamed obscenities at the dead and dying men so loudly his voice went shrill, his rage tearing though his throat as he turned to address his other pirates.

"How in the FUCK can one man, ONE FUCKING MAN- no, a KID from Cali-fucking-fornia, that SKINNY LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT, outsmart all the fucking men I had posted at that fucking temple!?" Ana reached up and placed her hand on his arm, just to be knocked to the ground as his rage continued to boil over.

Ana sat on the ground, afraid that if she stood back up she'd just be shoved right back down. She hadn't had time to be thankful that Jason managed to escape before her captor had lost it. But she wasn't sure how she felt about it after the moment she just shared with the man in the shack, she was upset that he was upset. More than angry, he looked desperate, like there was more riding on this than just his pride.

Vaas finally calmed down after a few more minutes, turning on his heels and stomping off. Ana wanted to follow but his tantrum had scared her. She sat on the ground for a few more minutes, scanning the dozen-or-so bodies before her. Suddenly, one of them coughed. Lying on his back, the blood started gurgling in the back of his throat as he twitched on the ground.

Ana crawled across the dirt to kneel over him. The man stared up at her with wild eyes, silently begging for her help as the blood rattled in the back of his mouth. She reached out and placed her hands on his side, ready to roll him and prevent his drowning, but then she paused. Vaas wanted this man dead, and Ana didn't want to upset Vaas.

She leaned back slowly and removed her hands from him. The man shut his eyes tightly, choking louder and struggling to move his paralysed body. Ana felt her brow wrinkle. She leaned in a little closer, her face over his, waves of fiery hair cascaded down off her shoulders. She watched intently as his eyes shot open again, the gurgling and choking getting less and less desperate. She watched as the life left his eyes, he stared blankly off into the distance as blood overflowed from his open mouth. She found herself mesmerized as she watched his eyes, noticing the subtle change in their focus that confirmed he was gone.

Ana heard the shuffle of a boot behind her and turned around with lightning speed, hair flying wildly around her head. Vaas stood behind her, a hard expression on his face, emotionless, she swallowed wondering how long he had been there. A smirk of approval split his face and he held out a hand, Ana accepted and was lifted to her feet. She frowned her eyes flicking across her surroundings aimlessly as she tried to sort out her thoughts. When she finally turned her head to look at her captor he raised his eyebrows and gave her a small, knowing nod.

Vaas turned to leave towards Carlos, who was waiting in a jeep a few meters away, Ana took a step forward.

"Wait." Vaas stopped and she heard him sigh with impatience.

"What is it?" he turned, his head tilted.

Ana took in his appearance in the afternoon sunlight, tanned skin slick with sweat, littered with scars, scabs and fresh cuts. It was the first time she actually took a moment to really take in his appearance fully. His neck donned a few necklaces, one with a beautiful green stone hanging from it, a red bandana was tied around his bicep and one of his hands was bandaged up. Small white bandages wrapped around sections of many of his fingers. The large scar on his head clearly needed stitches but wasn't treated properly, the thick pinkish-white line that dipped down to obstruct his left eyebrow was matched on the other side of his head by smaller, matching scars where no hair grew.

He wore leather straps as bracelets, along with bits of red cord, his ears were pierced and his clothes were tattered and dirty. Of course she already knew all this, she had been in close proximity of the man many times but examining him like this was like seeing him for the first time. She met his eyes and noticed again his dark circles, Ana shook her head, bringing herself back to reality when she started wondering how he would look cleaned up. His jaw held tightly clenched and the most alluringly evil of looks in his eyes. He was still enraged, out for Jason's blood. She was shocked at the next words to come out of her mouth.

"Can I help?" She had to play the part of devoted captive, she needed him to like her, but she was starting to wonder how much of it was 'need' anymore, and if she just _wanted_ him to like her.

She had felt bad when she imagined David the last time he violated her. She felt sorry for what ever had happened in his past to give him such a sorrowful expression when they were away from prying eyes. She even liked when he praised her, when he touched her softly and talked to her without yelling and swearing. Ana felt like she was starting to get glimpses of another side of him. If she could get on that good side then maybe being trapped here wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. At least until authorities or rebels or Jason put an end to it, right? She pursed her lips, trying to make sense of the excuses running through her head.

How much of it was an act, how far gone was she? How long until she let this man drag her all the way to the bottom. Until the part of her that wanted freedom, the sane part, was locked deep down inside of herself, screaming to be let out until she wasted away completely.

"What?" Vaas asked, an unamused look on his face.

"I want to help. Anyway I can. I can uh... oh! I can use a bow! Kinda... I haven't actually practised in a few years, but when I did it in high school I was pretty good."

Vaas walked over to her and put a hand on her face like one would a small child, "When I get back we'll talk about that. I have to go; I'll be back in a few hours. Grab some mangoes, bananas, whatever and go right back to your shed." He slapped her cheek patronizingly and took off to the jeep. Nodding good-bye to her as it drove off.

Ana smiled widely, he trusted her to get her own food and go back to where she belonged on her own. This was good. She'd make sure his trust wasn't misplaced.

Ana went about the camp, worried that a pirate would try and drag her back to the shack at any second, unaware of Vaas' permission, but it never came. She supposed, like Tomas, they had seen his explosive reaction the last time one of them had handled her and now knew she was off limits.

She grabbed some fruit from the shack and helped herself to a bottle of water, Vaas hadn't specified if she could but the thirst drying out her mouth was too strong to ignore. After quickly devouring the fruit she took a few sips of water, deciding to make it last as long as possible. Ana hurried back to her shack. She decided to leave the door open and let the sunlight and fresh air flow in for once. She wrinkled her nose at the crackled, remains of dried vomit that was still caked on the floor in the corner despite the storm the night before. Shaking her head she rummaged through the boxes under the table until she found a torn rag. She wet it slightly and scrubbed the floor of the bile until it was gone. She then walked outside and tossed the disgusting rag into one of the barrels that held burning wood.

When she was done tidying up the place as much as she could and rearranged the objects Vaas had strewn across the floor when he flipped the table over a week ago, she took his place on it. Sitting on the edge where he always did and waiting patiently.

Hours passed by, Anna stayed on the table, eagerly awaiting Vaas' return. She straightened up as she heard footsteps approaching. Vaas entered and she lit up, he smirked and patted her head.

"What a good girl." He said sarcastically, rubbing her hair around like a dog.

Ana found herself reacting very positively to this sarcastic praise, her heart fluttered in her chest and she tilted her head down humbly. She hoped he would continue to act this way towards her.

"So you want to help me? You want to help kill this Jason Brody?" Vaas asked unenthusiastically, moving his hand down to rest on her cheek.

"Yes, I'll do whatever you want. Whatever I can to help." She nodded, enjoying the feeling of his calloused palm on her face.

"And how do I know I can trust you?" He demanded, "How do I know you won't run off, betray me?"

"You can. I'd rather-"

"I have a test for you," Vaas cut her off, moving away quickly, turning his back to her as he walked out of the shack, stopping just outside the entrance, "Personally, I think you'd be useless as fuck trying to help get rid of Jason. However, if you pass this test, I'll let you train. And I'm sure it goes without saying that if in the end you do betray me, I'll-"

"Kill me. I know." Ana slid off the table, joining Vaas at the door, "What do you want me to do?"

Vaas turned back to face her, a wicked smile formed on his lips, "Carlos! Get the battery!"


	7. Chapter 7

**[EDIT] Thanks to **Badi-Otaku** for the reviews and for inadvertently reminding me that I forgot to fix the spelling of ****Anaïs' name before posting these chapters lol. (Too lazy to insert special characters when I'm typing so I intended to replace the **i****** in her name with an** ï ******as I published it) Merci! ^^**

* * *

The jungle flew passed them, gorgeous leaves, flowers, trees whizzing past the jeep as they drove towards the beach. A group of deer dashed out of the road, getting out of the way of Vaas' jeep just in time. Ana closed her eyes, enjoying the fresh breeze on her face, listening to the sounds of the jeep's creaking and squeaking suspension on the uneven dirt-road. Beautiful bird calls filled the jungle and the sky above was a clear, bright blue. Not a cloud in sight.

Ana opened her eyes and turned her attention to Vaas in the driver's seat. His expression hard and focused on the road, resting his wrist on the steering wheel. Ana bit her lip, deciding to go ahead and give him the relief he had refused anyway. It couldn't hurt her chances of gaining his trust. Which she reminded herself mentally was the reason she had to do it.

She reached over and rested her hand on Vaas' thigh, his eyes shifted to her for a second but he didn't seem affected. Ana slowly ran her hand higher, resting it on his crotch. Vaas groaned almost impatiently, gripping her hand and pushing it against him harder. She quickly started working on his belt, undoing the button on his pants and pulling down his zipper. Her hand dove inside, and she closed her fist around him, pumping up and down as she felt him hardening in her grasp.

Vaas adjusted himself in his seat, spacing his legs further apart, and let out a deep groan, slowing the jeep slightly. He gripped the back of Ana's skull, grabbing a fistful of hair and pulling her downwards. Ana shut her eyes and hesitantly closed her mouth around him, bobbing her head up and down as he tightened his fist in her hair, controlling her speed himself. They arrived at the beach and Vaas stopped the jeep, pulling roughly on Ana's hair, yanking her up.

"We're here." He announced, his eyes boring into hers, he blinked when noticed a thin string of saliva running from Ana's lips down to her chin; forming a small, wet bead that threatened to drip off at any second.

He clenched his jaw shut so hard he felt pain in the roots of his teeth. He wanted so badly to roughly pull her face back down and fuck her mouth until it was him that was dribbling from her chin. But the one thing he wanted more in that moment was to put her to the genius test he had planned for her.

"Please..." Ana put on her best innocent voice, "I want you to finish." The words felt awkward in her mouth and she bit her lip, embarrassed.

"Mmm..." Vaas moaned, aggressively wiping the spittle from her face in an attempt to clear his mind of the fantasy, "Pass the test and we'll both get off." She doubted his words as he quickly shoved her towards her door and readjusted himself in his pants. He hopped out of the Jeep energetically and took out a large battery from the trunk, "Grab those cables." He instructed.

Ana picked up the cables, with odd looking rods at the ends of them, she frowned wondering what all this was for.

They walked out onto the beach, the lovely white sand slid comfortably through Ana's toes. She wondered if she'd ever be given shoes but in this moment was grateful she didn't have any. She smiled subtly as her aching, damaged soles were caressed by the beach's softness.

The pair made their way towards a rock sticking out of the beach. A number of small mounds were formed in the sand, scattered around and leading up to the rock, that Vaas informed her to be careful not to step on.

As they approached closer Ana realized that it wasn't a rock in the ground. It was a human head. She suddenly came to the conclusion that the mounds of sand must be covering countless other heads. Vaas set the large battery on the ground behind the head and walked around to the front of it. He crouched down with a wide, open-mouthed, child-like smile on his face.

"Good morning!" He called happily to the man's head, giving it a firm slap on the cheek, "How are you today? I forgot to bring your water again, maybe next time."

The head began to shake, coughing and moaning. _My god, _Ana thought, _this person is still alive._ She shivered at the thought of being buried alive this way.

"I brought a surprise for you today." Vaas pet the head, "Connect those wires to the battery." He shifted his attention to her.

Ana nodded and quickly attached the wires and brought the ends to Vaas. As she walked around the head she felt her stomach fall. She gasped and gazed down in horror at the man's face.

"Rick..." she breathed.

Rick looked up, his face battered and bloodied, swollen and bruised. He let out a breath and struggled to speak, coughing and gasping.

"I brought your cousin to visit you! Isn't that nice of me?" Vaas asked, smiling at Rick, "She's come to help me with my daily tortures."

"Wh-" Ana turned to face him, "What?" She was completely shell-shocked, _how had he even managed to keep Rick alive all this time? Had he been here since that first day? Did Vaas keep him alive on purpose? Could he have planned this from the beginning? _A barrage of pointless questions crashed through her mind.

"You said you'd do anything." He stood to hold her face gently between his palms, making sure her attention was solely on him. "This is your test. If you want to help, if you want to stay, if you want me to _trust_ you, you have to do what I say. Don't forget that you're my property; this is a rare opportunity I'm offering you here. You won't get a second chance to prove yourself to me. I'll throw you back in that fucking shack and use you up, drain the fucking life out of you." Ana trembled at the thought of being starved, used for sex and nothing else, lying in that little shack until she wasted away to nothing, "So this is it, you take his life, or I take yours."

He stared intensely into her eyes before placing the rods firmly in her hands and stepping aside. Ana looked down at Rick's pleading eyes, still unable to speak; her worried brow was starting to make her forehead ache. She got down on her knees and watched his face as he struggled in the sand. She then understood why he was unable to speak; Vaas had cut out his tongue. Her throat tightened and she looked up at her captor, standing over her expectantly.

"This is when you decide who you want to be. He doesn't know you anymore, who you are. Who you _really_ _fucking are_. Are you a victim like this piece of shit?" He asked more angrily, kicking sand into Rick's blubbering face, "Or..." Vaas opened his arms, shaking his head like it was a no-brainer. His open arms offering her the world; the freedom of his island and the safety to enjoy it with him in exchange for her old life and family.

If she chose Rick, she'd have nothing, if she chose Vaas, she could have anything. But there was only one thing she could do anyway. Her expression shifted, the worry leaving her face, replaced by a cold stare, completely void of emotion. Rick shook his head to the best of his ability and groaned, pleading with her as she pressed the ends of the rods together. The result was a crackling surge of electricity, tears streamed from his eyes and through his badly affected moans she could make out continuous begging of the word 'please'.

She pressed them roughly to Rick's temples and felt herself change forever.

She felt all the anger and sadness she had ever felt about her pitiful orphan life build up. She hated whatever fate decided that she wouldn't have her mother, she hated her father for abandoning her, and she hated her broken little family and all the deaths that had plagued them. She hated her fiancé for always being too busy for her, for asking her to marry him three years ago and never bringing it up again. She hated California and the people that she had forced smiles around, she hated Rick for always bossing her around, she hated Jared for talking down to her, she hated Jenny, she hated Mei.

The only person who mattered anymore was Vaas. He was the one keeping her safe, giving her what she needed, what she wanted, they couldn't help her. The only thing she wanted was him.

"Hey don't get greedy now; I want to keep him for a few more days." Vaas nudged her with his leg but she refused to pull away the rods, electricity pulsing through Rick's skull as he screamed.

Vaas started to laugh, he'd always found it funny the way his victims looked like bobble-heads when being tortured with battery electricity. Rick stopped screaming and Ana dropped the rods, standing up and facing Vaas, she looked different, new, angry. _Good_, Vaas thought. She turned to head towards the Jeep and he grabbed her arm.

"Always clean up your mess." He scolded and Ana got down and used her hands to bury her dead cousin's head under the sand, creating her own mound on Vaas' beach.

Ana took off in a hurried walk towards the Jeep, Vaas shook his head, smirked, and collected the cables and battery happily before following behind.

When she got back to the Jeep she was surprised and how little remorse she felt. In fact, she felt none. Nothing but rage, she let out a strangled, drawn out scream and kneed and punched at the side of the vehicle. The skin on one of her knuckles split, blood seeping from the gnarled flesh and splattering onto the Jeep with every strike. Vaas frowned and dropped the battery to the ground, running over to the girl as she lashed out violently and seemingly uncontrollably.

He skidded to a stop when he reached her and quickly wrapped his arms around her thrashing body, "Ay! Anaïs, the fuck are you doing? calm the fuck down!" He pinned her arms in his grasp and she let out another pained scream, veins protruding from her neck with the force of it as her knees gave out and she stopped struggling in Vaas' hold.

He was pulled down with her as she let her legs go limp, adjusting his knees on the uncomfortable gravel. Her body wracked with sobs and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut as flashes of what had just happened burned behind her eyelids. She started trembling, her stomach churning, throat tight as she replayed the scene over and over in her head. _What the hell happened to y_ou? Her mind screamed as a panic attack took hold of her.

Rick's horrified expression was already haunting her, his wild eyes and screaming, tongue-less mouth begging for his little cousin to stop. Ana had surely lost herself now, she felt weak, foolish, this wasn't about survival anymore. She knew that without a doubt now. Before any of this she thought she would rather die herself than cause the death of a member of what little family she had left. She had made excuses, like somehow Rick telling her what to do and acting as a sort of father-figure was a reason to hate him. She wasn't upset for killing him so much as she wept for the death of her former self. Vaas was right when he said with absolute certainty that she would die.

Ana trembled as she remembered a documentary she watched once when there was nothing on T.V. It was about children that grew up without a proper mother or father-figure from a young age and had stressful home lives with surrogates or fosters. Some of whom ended up developing mental disorders, depression... mania... and ended up murdering their surrogate parents. Regardless of how loving they were, many times they were actually family. Ana balled her hands up, is this what had happened with her? Was she bound to snap eventually? Had her unstable childhood stunted her development or caused disorders or psychopathic issues that had remained dormant until she had a reason to unleash them? She brought one of her fists up and punched the side of her head before Vaas grabbed hold of her wrist.

Vaas...

What else was she willing to do for this man that had raped, abused, and almost killed her? _Why _was she willing to do anything for him? Why did she feel her chest flutter around him, or great pleasure when he commended her? This is the man who kept her shackled in a small, dark hut deprived of food and water for days, hurt and caked in blood, tears, and her own bile. And she would do anything to make him happy. She was aware of her own sanity slipping further and further away and at this point she was too far gone to go back.

"Anaïs." Ana finally realized Vaas had been calling her name, she turned her head to the side, eyes barely looking back at him as she tried to calm her hyperventilation, "Family... your loved-ones, they just hold you back from your real potential. My... fucking _sister_..." he continued, loosening his grip on her. She fell to her hands and knees and Vaas got up in a squatted position, propping his elbows up on his knees, "The first time I ever killed was for my sister. Not enough for her."

Vaas shook his head, anger slowly coursing through his body as he fought to keep it down, to keep his voice steady.

"Of course she's not my real sister, that would be fucked up," He chuckled knowingly, before going stone-faced again, "She wanted more, tried to force me to do shit for her, drove me away and then fucking gave me an ultimatum," his voice shook with suppressed fury, "I'm going to put a bullet-" he made his trademarked clicking sound with his tongue, "In that bitch's fucking head."

Ana frowned, knowing there was much more to the story that he would probably never tell her, he had never spoken of his past to her before and even now was being very cryptic.

"Our loved-ones blindside us every fucking time..." He hissed through tightly-clamped teeth.

Ana sat back on her calves and turned to fully face Vaas. His eyes cut through her, head titled down in an apathetic glare. And she wasn't afraid. She looked at him with a similar indifference. His piercing stare would have sent her into a panic a few weeks ago, but not anymore. She nodded at him in silent understanding and got to her feet. His gaze followed her up and she looked down at him, a perspective she had never seen before, expressionless despite the tears that left pale streaks on her dirty face. Ana extended her bloodied hand out to him and Vaas scoffed with a cocky frown, smirking as he swatted the offer away and got up.

"Get in." He ordered and she circled around to the passenger side of the vehicle.

Vaas started up the Jeep with some effort and took the wheel with one hand, leaning back casually in the seat. The engine droned as he threw it in reverse to turn around and sped down the dirt road towards the encampment. Ana looked down at her injured knuckle, the blood was starting to coagulate and bruises of all shades were forming across both hands. They would have been beautiful if there hadn't been so much horribleness behind them. She was just thankful she hadn't broken any of her fingers. Her eyes finally rested on the brand on her left hand. The 'V' that marked her as Vaas'. She reached over and peeled the small remaining scab from it. A miniscule bead of blood bloomed, encircled by fresh pearlescent scar tissue. She felt a smile pull on her lips and leaned her head back, a strange sense of contentment and safety washing over her.


	8. Chapter 8

**[A.N.] Not crazy about this one either, feels like there's a lot of stuff crammed into one chapter... Even after splitting it in half lol. Also, I suppose it being Vaas-less doesn't help :O Anyway, the other half will be up soon.**

**.**

When they returned, night was already fast approaching. Vaas led Ana wordlessly back to her shack. They both paused at the entrance. Ana didn't want to go back inside, be shut out from the world, from Vaas, in the lonely, putrid darkness. But she wasn't about to ask Vaas permission to stay elsewhere. _Obedience_, she remembered.

She looked up at Vaas silently, watching his dark eyes intently for a moment. Hoping that after today she had proven herself to him and would be given better living arrangements. He stared back down at her, scanning her face before drifting further down, she never averted her eyes from his.

His gaze came to rest on her battered hands, he shook his head and sighed, looking away, "I'll send a medic over just in case."

With that, Vaas slapped her ass, pushed on her back until she walked into the shack and closed the door behind her. Ana heard the lock click into place and hung her head, lying down on the floor and curling in on herself. Maybe she should assert herself more, perhaps he would have more respect for her if she did. When she talked back to him it did draw some smiles now and then. Although she would have to tread carefully; Vaas, with his insanity, was a very difficult person to read. She could never tell how he would take something. And she didn't want to go back to being brutally desecrated and mutilated again...

Ana rolled over onto her back and sighed loudly, wishing she was back in his bed with him like the night he got drunk. The memories flooded back and she bit her lip as odd tingles of arousal flowed throughout her entire body. Her hand slid down her abdomen, she visualized his body, muscled and scarred, tan skin, calloused fingertips trailing across her soft skin. She even found herself fantasizing about his teeth sinking into her shoulder.

She realized that this growing fondness was anything but healthy and had heard about Stockholm-syndrome... However she wondered if that was even what was happening.

_Unless I'm just following suit and losing my mind... Maybe I really am fucked up in the head and I'm just latching onto Vaas because- _but she pushed that from her head, denied it, she wasn't a psychologist and decided there was no use in mulling over it repeatedly. Her hand slipped under her shorts and she took in a breath just as she heard the lock turning.

"God, damn it." she hissed through gritted teeth and got into a seated position, holding her hands out to the medic as he entered.

* * *

It had been a couple of weeks since Vaas had taken the girl to the beach that he approached Tomas. Tomas was rather unhappy to be the one stuck teaching her, he was the youngest among the men, he assumed he was just slightly younger than Ana, but he was good at what he did. He grit his teeth together when Vaas ordered him to fetch her from her shack and train with her until further instruction. He wanted to be out in the field, helping to take down the enemy, not babysitting Vaas' bitch.

He was told to make sure she put on some weight and muscle, to get her to work on her stealth and bow skills, teach her how to use a pistol and rifle, and the basics of hand to hand combat and self defence as a last resort. He agreed enthusiastically, hoping this might help him move higher in the ranks, but inside he was screaming obscenities.

He trekked through the camp to the far end where Ana was locked up. He wasn't looking forward to seeing her again, every time he laid eyes on her she was battered and crying and, more often than not, she looked near death. It was a common sight in his line of 'work' but it wasn't something he enjoyed. He had been raised by his mother alone, in a poor home with three sisters. He saw them in the faces of every tortured girl he came across.

Tomas had been forced into piracy, at least that's how he liked to justify it, in reality it was a last resort to keep his remaining sisters alive. In their poverty, his mother took ill and his eldest sister was snatched away by pirates on her way home from gathering fruit. He never saw his sister again and he watched his mother waste away to skin and bone, unable to even eat. When she passed, Tomas took up with Vaas' crew and earned enough to send his younger sisters far away from the island, despite their protests. Knowing he was in it for life, and unable to leave with his them, was a hard on him but an easy decision. The guilt he felt for joining up with the men who very likely were the same that had taken his own flesh and blood ate at him inside, but it was the only sure way to keep his remaining family safe.

It had been a little over two years since then, he had killed, kidnapped, transported and helped in the selling of many human beings. It became almost like second nature but he didn't take any pleasure in it. Knowing the same had undoubtedly happened to his sister was sickening. But he did it for them. He hoped God would forgive him for a lifetime of sin in exchange for the well being of the people he loved, but he supposed that was pretty selfish.

He slid the lock open and slowly opened the door so as not to startle the girl. She looked up at him confusedly, huddled under the window despite not being chained up. Her thin, exposed shoulders were indication enough of how weak and malnourished she had become. Her eyes reminded him of a doe before he released an arrow between its eyes. Her matted, red hair stuck to her face and a tremor quaked through her body. He figured he should explain why he was there before she got any wrong ideas.

"Vaas sent me." He said after clearing his throat, "For training?"

"Oh." Her small voice chirped with embarrassment and her stiff muscles relaxed.

Tomas shook his head, her mind had been churning out worst case scenarios as he expected, "But there's no way you'd be capable of even lifting a bow let alone using it. We're gonna work on fattening you up a bit and building muscle first."

"Okay..." Ana nodded slowly, it was obvious to Tomas that she didn't know how to talk to him.

She was probably permanently on edge after dealing with only Vaas and his erratic behaviour for so long. Tomas could also admit that he hadn't given off the best impression the last time he was ordered to tend to her. He had enjoyed her sarcastic remarks every now and then but that was when she knew he wouldn't respond, Now she just seemed unsure and scared. He blew out a long sigh and walked to stand over her, extending his hand.

He was troubled by the way she looked up at him, as if she had seen a ghost, or was overwhelmed with disbelief. He remembered the bite marks, the brand and her finger, but what exactly had Vaas done to this girl...

"C'mon." He said in the calmest of tones he could manage despite his irritation.

Ana moved to reach out her left hand but quickly retracted it and replaced it with her right. Tomas winced when their hands met. Her fingers were so thin, her skin so cold, she felt far too delicate. He was almost worried that if he pulled hard enough her limb would break off. He helped her up slowly as she shakily pulled herself to her feet. He had stopped bringing her meals and hadn't seen Vaas make too many trips over either, he wondered how much food she was actually getting. At least now she'd be eating regularly, and Tomas would be bringing her clothes and shoes that he was sure she'd be grateful for.

Leading her to the canopy and sitting her at the table, he brought out small portions of cooked boar, rice, fruit and some water. Tomas could see the girl quivering with anticipation.

"Don't eat too much too fast. And drink in small sips. Otherwise your stomach might reject it and we won't be getting anywhere at all." He instructed as he took a seat across from her, propping his elbow up on the table and leaning his cheek against his fist.

He drummed his fingers carelessly on the table top, stopping every once in a while to dig one of his fingernails into the cracked wood and chip small sections out. He looked at Ana out of the corner of his eye and saw her looking at him with an amused smirk, one eyebrow raised.

"What." he frowned.

"Nothing, just looks like you're pouting is all." She shoved a small piece of the meat into her mouth and let out a hum of approval at the taste, "It's funny."

Tomas rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his neck, shifting his position impatiently. The girl apologized for taking up his time again and he immediately felt a pang of guilt. He shrugged it off and shook his head, "Not your fault." He nodded towards her plate, "Just eat your food."

In just little over a week later, Ana was finally starting to gain a bit of weight back, Tomas had been increasing her portions every day and she was now fed three times daily. They would soon start training once she built up a little bit of muscle, he was actually starting to enjoy his task. At least he didn't have to kill people, and taking care of Vaas' current pet was really putting him on the boss' good side. Vaas shot him nods of praise when he would check up on her and see her progress.

"Alright, working out all day tomorrow." Tomas said, holding the door to Ana's shack open as she walked in.

"Okay." She sounded apprehensive.

"Don't worry, m'not gonna work you to death or anything. We'll take lots of breaks 'til you get used to it." He had always been a man of few words, but the more time he spent training the girl, the easier it was to talk to her.

"Thanks." Ana smiled and slid into her usual spot on the floor.

"I'll... come get you in a few hours for supper." A troubled look crossed Tomas' face, seeing her crouched there, her arms around her knees reminded him of the night of the storm.

.

.

.

_Tomas was on patrol when it hit, some of the men started laughing about the captives getting pelted in the cages and slave housing. His mind turned to Ana, shackled to the wall right beneath the window, weak and beaten down and alone. He brought his fingers to his mouth and started chewing on his nails, biting down especially hard on the pad of his thumb, thoughts drifting to his eldest sister. He couldn't abandon his post but decided to check on her afterwards._

_He cursed himself as he boiled some water and squirted a bit of lemon into it, grabbing the blanket from his cot on the way out. It was risky going against Vaas' orders, let alone showing concern for someone that belonged to the boss, it could very well earn him a death sentence if reported._

_Luckily he made it to her shed undetected, his chest tightened at the sight of her, thin and freezing on the floor, her body quivering as she closed in on herself as much as possible. Her bound right hand was fisted above her head in an attempt to warm her cold fingers. Even her toes were curled up as she looked up at him tiredly, teeth chattering. He couldn't stand to look at her anymore, tossing the blanket over her head he quickly laid the hot cup on the floor by her feet and hurried out the door, using the side of his foot to kick out as much of the water accumulation as possible. When he saw her reach a shaky hand up to remove the blanket he closed the door and hastily slid the lock shut, making his was back to his housing. _

_He didn't sleep that night, waiting until dawn broke and it warmed up a bit to go retrieve his blanket and cup before anyone else in the cots woke, dropping off Ana's rations for the day to make it less conspicuous if one of the others spotted him._

_._

_._

_._

Looking at her after almost a month of training, she looked much better than she had back then. A lot more lively, Tomas was glad she was getting healthier, but had no idea why she was training to help Vaas. She didn't seem to have a reason as far as Tomas could tell. Unless Vaas was forcing her but it didn't seem that way, she appeared eager enough. Tomas grimaced, wondering why she returned from the beach so differently, they had taken the battery, had he used it on her? Or perhaps he made her watch him torture those men he kept buried in his twisted little garden. Tomas didn't know, he knew he wasn't allowed to ask either, so he just continued with he training and tried not to think of the reason for it.

Vaas had agreed to let Tomas show her how to 'relieve' the outposts from the Rakyat but thought it would be better to start with radio towers as they were less guarded. Even from the ground Tomas could tell Ana felt empowered as she hooked the device back up to the tower's panel. The electrical buzzing died away as she pulled the switch. The entire tower creaked as a heavy gust of wind blew past and Ana let out a squeal as her hair swirled around her face, she reached out and held the metal railing tightly. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the feeling of being so high above the world, away from everything, it felt freeing.

When she opened her eyes again, Tomas was waving her over from his position at the base of a zip-line. Ana grinned and, holding the side of the tower, stepped up onto the rail and affixed the trolley Tomas had equipped her with onto the line. Tomas' tongue prodded the inside of his cheek in a failed attempt to fend off a smile. Ana's face contorted into an impressively strange expression as she pushed off the rail and made a loud whimpering flying down the zip-line towards him.

They continued to knock out the towers in the area for the next couple of days. It was good practice but Ana was excited to put all her training to a real test. After asking Tomas to get permission from Vaas every night for a week to let her take an outpost, finally that day had come.

* * *

**Edit: Sorry to anyone that doesn't give a crap about Tomas lol. This _is_ a Vaas/OC fic, not OC/OC, so Tomas won't be this prominent in future chapters, I promise :P**


	9. Chapter 9

Ana put on the black bra that had been given to her by Vaas recently, she didn't want to know where he had acquired it, but she had a guess. The red tank-top he had presented her was tight and torn to be significantly shorter than the ones the men wore, exposing her now-toned midriff. She shook her head as she did every time she pulled it on, just picturing Vaas' cocky smirk as he prepared it for her. She was given shorts instead of pants as well, she was thankful that the heat wouldn't affect her as badly as it did the men but she was hardly as well-protected. Hopefully she wouldn't need protective clothing in the first place. Ana grabbed her bow and slid a tactical knife into the strap on her thigh, a weapon she hoped she wouldn't have to use.

After lacing up the worn, black, combat boots and tying her long hair up in a high ponytail, she took a moment to steel herself. Ana sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them her nerves calmed and her face became hardened, confident, and determined. She pushed the door to her shack open, which hadn't been locked for the past few days much to her content, and stepped out into the dying sunlight.

Tomas was waiting for her, he nodded at her and cracked a crooked smile. His blue eyes squinted slightly whenever he smiled and it caused the scar that ran over his left eye to bend awkwardly. He ran a hand through his dark, choppy hair and wiped sweat from his brow before allowing the lopsided hairstyle to fall back into place, partially covering the non-scarred side of his face.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Mhm." Ana nodded, but Tomas noticed her jaw flexing nervously.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." he assured, slapping her shoulder encouragingly.

"Hey!" The familiar voice boomed, causing both of them to turn towards it with a jump, "Fuck was that, hermano? Ay?"

Vaas shoved Tomas aside roughly and Ana's eyes widened. He must have seen Tomas' pat of encouragement on her back. Tomas threw his hands up in front of him, palms out.

"You touching my toy?!" He yelled and Tomas shook his head, hands still out in surrender. Suddenly a smile split Vaas' face and he broke out in a mocking laugh, "Relax, amigo. I'm fucking with you."

Tomas visibly relaxed and let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah, you got m-"

"But seriously," a stern seriousness washed over Vaas' face, "Keep your hands to yourself, niño."

Without another word he turned to Ana and nodded, taking in her appearance as he crudely licked his lower lip. _He's fucking crazy..._ Ana thought to herself with the slightest of smiles.

"We're about to head out." she announced, breaking the awkward silence.

"Mm," Vaas gave a nod, "Come back in one piece. Comprende, mi hermosa?" he took her chin in his rough hand and shook her head a bit, "And you-" he turned to point his finger at Tomas, still holding Ana's chin, "you make sure she does, or _I'll_ tear _you_ to pieces."

"Understood." Tomas nodded and Vaas grinned wickedly at the girl before giving her cheek a light slap and turning on his heels, screaming for Carlos to bring him some cocaine.

The truck-ride to the outpost felt like forever, Ana was nervous. She wanted to do this well, to make Vaas proud, hopefully be allowed to share his bed tonight. She was sick of sleeping on the floor and still being treated as an animal even after all she had done to prove herself.

Tomas pulled the truck to the side of the road, "We walk from here." he announced, pulling his rifle out from the backseat and jumping out into the thick foliage of the jungle's ground.

Ana followed him closely, stepping where he stepped, careful not to make noise. She was already sweating, the air was humid and heavy, she couldn't imagine wearing the t-shirt and cargo pants that Tomas had on right now.

As if reading her mind, Tomas whispered in a hushed laugh, "Too fucking hot, just shoot me already."

Ana smiled and shook her head as they continued on through the thick brush. When they finally came within sight of the outpost, Tomas raised his arm, signalling her to stop.

"Alright, like we said, disable those alarms first, the Rakyat surely reset them. I'm going to cover you if things go to shit but-"

"I know, we've been over it a fucking thousand times," Ana rolled her eyes sarcastically, "I just wanna get it over with at this point."

"Don't be a bitch," he quipped quietly, "I'm making sure. This is dangerous, there's no room for error."

Ana nodded and before he could start again, she adjusted the tactical bow over her shoulder and took off out of the brush and across the dirt road in a crouched run. She could feel Tomas' eyes on her as she made her way around the makeshift fencing, glad that she wasn't completely alone on her first go. Locating a hole in the scrap-metal enclosure she slipped inside. Drawing her bow and taking in her surroundings, making mental note of the Rakyat and their positions.

_Not too many guys, should go smoothly, _she told herself as she made her way towards the alarm system, opening it carefully and pulling the wires. _Here we go._ She was surprised how easy it was, picking off the gunmen on top of the small buildings with arrows first so that the men patrolling wouldn't take notice. Ana then stealthily made her way through the small camp sending arrows into the back of her oblivious opponents' necks and pulling them back out as she passed. If she counted correctly there should be only one left, and that would have been the case had a truck filled with six more men not pulled in just as she was darting out into the open.

"Fuck!" She swore quietly as the driver took notice of her.

"Pirate!" He screamed in a heavy accent, slamming on the brakes as the passengers jumped out, armed with automatic rifles.

Ana dove behind the nearest shipping container, bullets pelted it, the metallic pangs made her ears sting.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." She repeated, taking a deep breath until she heard one of the men complain that their clips was done and took a chance.

She leaned around the corner and unleashed an arrow, it buried itself deep into the man's head as he was changing the magazine. A bullet whizzed towards her and just grazed the surface of her bicep. Ana hissed in pain, but she had been through much worse with Vaas to let the slight wound distract her. She heard Tomas shout something and some of the gunshots stopped.

"Shit! Another one! Over here!"

_Alright, that evened the playing field a bit,_ Ana peered around the corner to see three of the men running towards the jungle. Two more. She rolled out on the ground and fired another arrow as she came up to her knees, catching one of the men in the thigh. He let out a scream and fell and Ana quickly pulled another arrow and shot at the remaining Rakyat. He ducked behind a concrete medium.

"Shit." She breathed and then snapped her head around when she heard crunching gravel.

She had forgotten about the one remaining guard. He was now running towards her with a machete. Ana quickly jumped to her feet and raced up the stairs connected to the outside of a shanty with a bright red door. The man followed and she planned to try and execute something she had never attempted. She would jump from the building's roof to the top of another large, metal, shipment container below, and fire an arrow back at the man in the air before he could follow. She would then also be out of sight of the other two remaining Rakyat and have some time to come up with a strategy to take them out.

It didn't go as she planned. Not even close. Her pursuer was much nearer than she thought. As she went to jump he grabbed a handful of her hair. Ana's feet slid off the roof and she screamed in pain at the searing pain that ignited across her scalp. Her bow fell to shipment container below and she managed to reach the tips of her toes to it and alleviate some of the pull. Remembering the man had a machete and could swing down on her head at any second, her hand fluttered to the strap on her thigh. Grunting as she struggled to pull it free, the man started to scream at her in another language.

"Agh!" She growled as she freed the combat knife, swinging it desperately above her head and hoping it would connect where she wanted it to.

The clang of the blade on the side of the building was the sound of life. She fell to the metal container, long locks of fiery hair falling all around her. The man stumbled and fell forward, catching himself on the ledge of building. When he opened his eyes Ana's arm was held back, still wielding her hunting knife, ready to strike. He didn't even have time to react before she lunged forward and sheathed the blade in his forehead.

Her victory was short-lived, as a piercing pain shot through her leg. The bullet went straight through her thigh, penetrating the wood siding of the shack. It was enough to bring her to her knees, gripping her thigh. She turned to see the man she had shot in the leg earlier, shakily approaching her with a pistol drawn. Ana only realized in that moment that she had dropped her bow off the container when she got shot. In a last-ditch attempt she drew her combat knife from it's strap and threw it in his direction. It missed her target miserably.

"Damn it." she hung her head, waiting.

The gunshot exploded in the silence of the jungle and she jumped, eyes squeezed shut. Nothing happened. She heard a thud and turned to see the Rakyat dead on the ground. Tomas was standing behind him with his pistol held at his side. He was breathing heavily but seemed to be relatively unharmed.

"Ana," Tomas panted, making his way over to her, he took her face in his hands briefly before moving to inspect her injuries, "You okay?" he extended his arm and she grabbed his hand as he helped her down from the crate.

She cried out when her feet hit the ground, the shock travelling up her leg and intensifying the pain from the gunshot, "More or less... Vaas is still gonna kill you though." She laughed humourlessly.

"Yeah," he breathed out sarcastically, a small smile playing across his lips, "Here." he quickly removed his belt and fastened it tightly around her thigh, just above the bullet wound, "We have to get you back to camp and have that looked at." Tomas wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her against his body.

"I'll live." Ana shrugged, throwing an arm over Tomas' shoulders.

He grabbed her wrist and adjusted their position as they made their way back to the Jeep, his thumb unconsciously rubbing her hand in an attempt to soothe her.

Naturally, Vaas was furious when Tomas radioed him saying that the outpost was successfully taken but Ana had been injured. He wove a tapestry of colourful curses and obscenities in both English and Spanish. Tomas looked nervous but Ana had a small smile on her face, she had to admit she actually enjoyed how violently protective Vaas was of her.

The satisfied feeling didn't last long however, she bit her lip and looked at the young man beside her. Tomas drummed his thumbs anxiously on the steering wheel, gnawing on his lower lip and nodding his head slowly. He was trying to conceal his fear from Ana, to mentally prepare himself for whatever Vaas was going to do to him, but there was no end to the possibilities. He had seen the evils that Vaas was capable of. Tomas sighed and tried his best to ignore the realization that the drive back to camp would likely be the last thing he did.


	10. Chapter 10

**[A.N.] I have a lot more chapters pre-written than I thought... It's just a matter of reading over and editing them before posting, so that's why I've been posting in batches. Gonna start slowing down soon-ish as I get closer to what I'm currently working on. Anyway, I had fun with this one :P here's Ten.**

* * *

The gunshot wound didn't do any major damage and the medic told Ana she'd make a full recovery after patching her up. Vaas had shown up to inspect her and throw a fit, screaming at Tomas and blaming him for her injuries.

"It wasn't his fault, Vaas. Everything was going fine 'til a truck full of those assholes showed up, we couldn't have seen it coming." Ana tried to explain.

"C_állate!_" he yelled, pointing his finger at her as she lay on the ground of her shack.

Ana did as she was told and remained silent as he continued to scold Tomas, telling him he was lucky Vaas didn't put a bullet through his head and that if she gets hurt under his watch again he won't hesitate.

"Outside," Vaas ordered, "Get the FUCK out!" he shoved Tomas through the door.

Tomas stole one last glance at Ana before the door slammed shut loudly, she gave him an apologetic look, feeling guilty, but she wouldn't attempt to interrupt Vaas.

Ana heard the lock click shut and her eyes widened at the hard, dull sounds of Vaas' fists connecting with Tomas' body. Tomas' stifled cries of pain getting more and more audible with every blow. It seemed to go on for at least five minutes.

"Get him the fuck out of my sight... piece of shit." She heard Vaas mutter and the shuffling sounds that she could only assume was Tomas being dragged away.

The lock clicked again and Vaas threw the door open. Ana swallowed hard, his hands were drenched in blood. His face and arms flecked with red.

"Did you-" she didn't know how to ask.

"Nah, he'll probably live, but hey-" he shrugged and sat on the table like he used to, "I gave him orders and he fucked up, if he didn't get punished then we'd have fucking _anarchy_ around here." He grinned devilishly before turning his attention to his hands, as if things weren't chaotic already, "Ah... see here? Fucker's face dislocated my finger." He shook his head and unflinchingly took hold of the misplaced digit, popping it back into place with a loud crack.

Ana watched him, he was looking at her funny, fidgeting slightly, "The fuck happened to your hair, by the way?" This drew a small laugh from her.

"Rakyat had a hold on it." She reached up and touched her hair, she could feel that it had been cut choppy and uneven. It was longer in the front where the man hadn't had as good a hold of it, one side even more-so than the other. A pang of self-consciousness hit her, "Do I look stupid?"

Something about the pure worry on her face, eyes wide, head titled forward, made Vaas smirk. He shook his head, _fucking woman, worried about stupid shit..._ He remained silent for a moment before shrugging, "Eh, you always look fucking stupid."

"Dick." Ana scoffed, worried for a second that she was being too casual with him, that he'd snap at the playful insult.

But he didn't, he inspected her with hooded eyes and rolled his tongue around in his mouth, as if he was plotting something. Without warning he launched himself off the table and let out a quick, loud sigh as he landed on his feet, shaking his arms a few times at his sides. He walked the two steps it took for him to be directly before her and knelt down, Ana met his gaze and noticed his eyes were fully dilated and she remembered his request to Carlos as they parted earlier. He was high.

Raising his bloodied hands, Vaas cupped Ana's face and shook his head. She shivered at the delicateness of his touch, it was so rare that it made her nervous. The last time he was this gentle was when he got drunk and Carlos had hurt her.

_Maybe being intoxicated does something weird to him... Or maybe it's when he blames someone else for my injuries, _Ana thought to herself.

He ran his thumbs gingerly over her cheeks, she could feel the sticky warmth of drying blood rubbing off on her. Acting on impulse she reached up and took one of his hands in hers, pulling it from her face to check out the damage. All his knuckles were swollen and bruised, the mixture of Tomas' and his own blood made it look almost as if he had shoved his hands in a vat of red paint.

Vaas sat silently, watching her slender fingers glide over his cuts, the cocaine still coursing through his body, he couldn't feel any pain even as she touched the wider gashes across his knuckles. Ana reached beside her and picked up her water bottle and the rag that the doctor had used to wipe the blood from her leg. It wasn't terribly blood-covered... she poured a bit of water onto the cloth and brought it to Vaas' hand. She focused on cleaning his hands of all the blood, trying her best to ignore his eyes burning into hers.

As carefully as she could she wiped around the open cuts, slightly horrified when she noticed the shard of a tooth embedded between two knuckles. She swallowed hard, her throat tightening as she imagined the sight that took place outside just moments ago. Ana pulled it out, a thick pearl of blood seeping out from the now-open wound, and tossed it towards the closed door. She snuck a glance at Vaas as his attention turned to the tooth clinking against the wall. His expression was more relaxed than she'd ever seen it despite his slight shake. Had he not looked the part she wouldn't even expect that he was a crazy person.

Ana finished cleaning his hands to the best of her ability and let go of them, fresh blood still seeping slowly from the deeper lesions. She looked up at him to find his eyes back on hers. His stare was soft, not the animalistic glare she was used to, the one that she had only seen on a few occasions. The one that made her heart ache for him.

_What happened to you? _She wondered again, something must have made him this way. Something drove him mad, something painful, she could see it in that expression. Ana shifted her gaze down slightly to the blood dotted under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. She winced as she imagined the force he must have beat Tomas with to cause these spatters.

Ana raised the rag to his face, but hesitated, she expected a challenging glower but he still held the same empty look. She noticed that his pulse was racing, visible through the veins in his neck. _Must be the drugs._

She touched the cloth to his skin and he shut his eyes for half a second before quickly gripping her wrist and pulling her hand away. That brief instant looked like a moment of bliss had washed over him, but when his eyes flew open that ravenous stare had returned.

Blinking at him, Ana loosened her fingers letting the bloody cloth fall to the floor, "I'm sorry." She figured she had crossed a line and was sure punishment was coming. She shut her eyes, anticipating a blow, but to her surprise, Ana only felt a soft pressure on her mouth.

Vaas' lips had never touched hers this lightly before, her heart was pounding in her chest as she sat there motionless. He took her face in his hands again and leaned further into the kiss, she heard him inhale deeply, a slight shake to the intake. She felt his brow frown against hers, holding her face tighter and pressing almost painfully against her lips.

Just as Ana was about to reciprocate with equal verve, she felt Vaas shove her away roughly. Her back slammed against the wall and she exclaimed loudly in shock.

"Fucking shit, Anaïs." Vaas growled as he got to his feet, pointing a finger at her, his body shaking with rage, "Don't-"

Ana waited for him to continue, looking up at him fearfully.

"Don't fucking do that again. You stay here from now on. Scared the shit out of me... stupid bitch." He ordered angrily.

"But Vaas!" She gasped, she didn't want to be contained to the shack again. The thought of it alone sent her into a panic. She wanted to do something useful.

"Shut the fuck up!" he screamed, voice cracking. He came closer, his arm held up, threatening to backhand her at any second, "You stay here. You don't know what you're doing out there, gonna get yourself fucking killed and then I'll have to fuck one of these..." he waved his hands around irritably, looking for the right words, "dirty, used-up sluts... You're still of value to me." He changed his tone, speaking the next words more to himself than Ana, "In more ways than one. Even if you're damaged I could still sell you for a decent price. _Maybe_ even better than the pricey Asian... but probably not..."

Ana frowned. She knew that whatever money Mei's parents had sent could never be less than what she would sell for, they were very wealthy and would pay any price to get her back. Unless...

"You sold her anyway..." Ana breathed.

"Of course I fucking sold her. You think I'm an idiot? Is there something wrong with your head? If I let her go I'd be fucked!" He laughed it off, anger still boiling over.

"You were never gonna let any of us go..." she thought back to all the hostages she had seen pass through the camp, tied to bamboo posts, locked in cages, "Because then authorities might find out where you are." It seemed so obvious in that moment, she felt imbecilic for believing even for a second that the captives that got ransomed would be released.

"I'm the only authority here." he insisted, "No one is going to fuck me-"

"I understand." She cut him off, "It makes sense, I guess I just thought you were '_a man of your word_'." she echoed his words and he squinted his eyes slightly, clenching his jaw, "In hindsight it was pretty fucking stupid to believe you. You're a psychopath." She couldn't stop the words coming, she was so angry that he had lied, that he had given Mei and her parents hope just to sell her into sex slavery anyway. At least Jenny and herself knew from the beginning that they weren't going home.

Vaas watched her incredulously, she was talking back to him and he fucking hated it.

"You know-" Ana let out a breathy laugh and looked up at him, "I don't know what the hell got into me. Maybe there _is_ something wrong with my head." she pressed her palm to her temple.

The silence surprised her, Vaas still hadn't moved. So she continued.

"I mean I knew from the start that you were a fucking _asshole_ but-" she shook her head, "I don't know just, fuck... Fuck you."

"Really? This coming from the girl that murdered her own cousin?" Vaas finally spoke, "That wasn't me, you did that on your own. You're not so moral yourself, sweetheart."

Ana could see his hand shaking, narcotic induced fury taking over his body, "You gonna beat me too? Like you did Tomas? For absolutely _no_ fucking reason?"

"Don't test me." He warned.

"I don't even fucking care anymore. I did everything for you. I gave everything to you. My body, my dignity, my sanity, my _fucking family_! I brought those towers back down, I cleared that outpost for you, I never ran away from you, I nearly fucking died for you... And you still make me sleep on this disgusting floor every night." She was just waiting for him to attack her now, "I did everything I could for you, gave you everything I had and you don't give a shit about any of-"

"Get over yourself, _puta_. You think because you do these things that I fucking _make _you do that I have to respect you or something? You're still just another dumb American bitch that I'm keeping around 'til you don't make me hard no more. Them I'm gonna fucking throw you to the dogs like the rest of these whores." Vaas moved away and then shifted as if remembering something.

He came closer, grabbing her by the neck of her shirt and hoisting her up off the floor, yelling directly into her face.

"And you think I fucking _bought_ any of your bullshit!?" He screamed, "I knew you were trying to fucking trick me, you think you're so clever? I'm always one step ahead, hermana."

"That's where you're wrong." She admitted, "I was going to leave the first chance I got, the second you left me alone outside or forgot to lock my door I was fucking out of here. But then I really did want you to trust me, I wanted to stay here. Something changed my mind."

"And what was that." He snapped condescendingly.

Ana paused for a while and thought, she tried to remember, "At first, protection. But then... I honestly don't even fucking know anymore. Stockholm-syndrome? No... not even that. I must've lost my fucking mind to want to willingly spend even _one second_ around you." She sneered at him and he snapped.

Vaas took hold of her neck and dragged her higher up the wall, holding her off the ground and squeezing. He was screaming at her, cursing her and slamming her against the wall repeatedly, his muscles rippling with drug fueled strength. Ana couldn't make out any of it. Her ears were ringing, her head pounding from the vice grip he had around her throat as she choked for breath. Kicking her feet against the wall, pain ebbing through her injured thigh, she forced herself to keep her hands balled up firmly at her sides.

He must've taken note of this because he looked down and his expression shifted, "Que, hm? You WANT to fucking die? Ay?! You fucking-" he pressed his lips together into a tight line and squeezed even tighter.

A blood vessel burst in her eye, replacing the whiteness with a horrible crimson, the skin of her face reddening as her mouth hung open, her instincts forcing her to try and gasp in oxygen.

"Y-" a slight sound escaped her gaping mouth and Vaas loosened his hold slightly.

"What's that chica? Got something _else_ to fucking say?" He asked behind bared teeth.

"Y-you're so fuc-fucking brok-en, you p-piece of shi-it. She choked out, a sickening rattle in her voice.

Just as she was about to black out, Ana felt herself hit the floor, gasping in as much air as she could, coughing up thick wads of bloodied saliva, every sound she made rasped painfully in her throat. She felt Vaas' boot connect with her side twice making her ribs ache. She let out a pitiful, uneven cry, her voice cracking.

Vaas punched the wall, leaving a bloody print, and kicked the door open, "Carlos! Get a hold of some buyers, I want this fucking bitch gone tomorrow." Ana heard him scream.

She curled in on herself and stared at the scar of the 'V' on her hand. She clawed at it repeatedly until she drew blood. Silent tears streamed down her face and she trembled, she had experienced a glimpse of the darkest parts of her captor and it scared her to death. But she would be sold soon, hopefully to someone who would treat her better. Although, despite her renewed hatred for him, she was devastated that Vaas didn't want her anymore. The thought brought on painful, wracking sobs, her heart felt physically broken. And she hated herself for it.


	11. Chapter 11

Come morning, Ana was still awake, curled helplessly on the floor waiting for the news of her purchase. Waiting for Carlos to burst in and drag her away. She shivered at the thought and, as if on cue, the door opened and the large brute stood in the entrance. He took up almost all the space in the doorway so barely any sunlight trickled in. Ana got to her feet without being asked and held her wrists out. They were bound and she was brought outside, Carlos' large hand squeezing her shoulder. The light stung her eyes, many of the pirates were gathered around, snickering among themselves as the battered girl was led away from the shack.

She caught sight of Tomas, propped up against the door-frame of nearby housing and worried her brow in sympathy. His face was a mess, bandaged almost all over, the parts of skin that were showing reminded her of tenderized meat, her lower lip trembled as he watched her sadly.

"What say I have a go before you send her off, eh?" One of the men laughed, squeezing his crotch.

Several other men chimed in, making crude gestures of their own. Ana hung her head in shame, wishing her hair was still long enough to shield her face. She scanned the crowd and noticed Vaas standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest next to a Jeep. His expression was cold, his jaw obviously clenched, eyes shooting daggers at her with a slight crease in his brow. Carlos left her to stand next to Vaas and circled around the Jeep, climbing into the driver's seat. The vehicle dipped dramatically under his weight.

"I..." Ana breathed, she didn't know what to say. She wasn't sorry, she didn't forgive him, she was just afraid of the unknown, "Where is he taking me?"

Vaas shrugged, "Carlos set up the deal himself."

Ana frowned and glanced over to the large man in the car, he glowered at her and a small smirk pulled at his bearded face, with sudden realization, Ana spun around to face Vaas again, "He's going to kill me, Vaas."

Vaas winced at the sound of his name in her still-gravelly voice, the pleading in her tone, she was begging him to save her in the subtlest way she could manage. Her worried brow and desperate visage actually drew some kind of emotion from somewhere really deep down inside him. Her eyes, teary and damaged from being choked out made him curl his hands into fists. The urge to defend his property still trying to surface even though she wasn't his anymore. Ana didn't know why she thought Vaas would protect her, he had nearly done her in himself the day before.

"At least give me a fucking _chance_!" she whispered desperately so only he could hear her, holding her wrists out, "Vaas?"

To her surprise, Vaas untied the bindings, she stared at him in disbelief her heart racing. Then he swung her arm around and secured her wrists, even tighter, behind her back instead. She felt her lips part in despair, a familiar aching pounded throughout her chest. Facing the direction she had just come from as Vaas tied the rope, she saw Tomas again. She could see his chest rise and fall with every deep breath.

Tomas was trying to hide his desire to help her in that moment. Breathing deeply to remain level-headed and in control, he wished he could stop this. He frowned, his brow creasing painfully. Ana's expression... her eyes wide and glossy with tears, mouth open in terror, it pulled at his heart. Tomas didn't know what she had done to earn a beating the night before, but he assumed it had been a bad one if her eye and the dark bruising across her neck were anything to go by. Tomas clenched his jaw, unable to watch anymore. He closed his swollen eyes tightly, hung his head and stared briefly at the ground. He shot her one last glance, making eye contact with her for a moment in a silent good-bye, before retreating through the doorway.

"Good luck." Vaas hissed menacingly and slapped her ass before grabbing her and shoving her inside the door-less Jeep.

Ana took one last look at the mohawked man, blinking her eyes hopelessly. He clicked her seat-belt into place, cocked an eyebrow at her and shot her one last wicked smile before turning and walking away, never even looking back.

* * *

Nearly ten minutes into the drive, after having travelled at full speed down many winding roads, Ana could see a clearing ahead. The road seemed to end. This was it. She started to panic, twisting her wrists as discreetly as she could. They were quickly approaching the clearing, driving way too fast for comfort on the edge of a hill like this. She wouldn't be surprised if Carlos lost control and they flipped down to the jungle below.

Ana unconsciously let out a small whimper as she shut her eyes. For a moment she really believed Vaas was going to untie her, save her from Carlos, maybe even take her back and forget this ever happened? Did he even believe her when she said Carlos was out to get her? He must have, he made that point very clear when he had bound her in an even more unfortunate position. The realization stung again, Vaas didn't care if she lived or died. No, he wanted her to die. There was no way she could defend herself now. Ana wondered what Carlos had planned for her. If she was really about to be killed she could only hope that it'd be fast, but Carlos' smirk suggested otherwise.

She silently prayed that he wouldn't violate her, she would endure being slowly tortured if that could be guaranteed. Just the thought of being violently raped again, not to mention by a man twice as physically frightening as Vaas, made her wish she could opt out early right then and there. She had endured so much and this is how it was going to end. The thought made her open her eyes with renewed resolve. The girl had been through too much to give this asshole the pleasure of ending her life. If she could only get her wrists free at least she'd have a fighting chance. Ana decided she'd rather try her best to go down swinging than just lie back and take it.

She recommenced her struggle, pulling harder than before, twisting her wrists until the thick rope bit painfully into her flesh. Suddenly, her fingers brushed over her right back pocket in her silent endeavour and she furrowed her brow. Trailing her fingertips over the worn fabric she could make out that there was something sharp inside. A light bulb went off and all at once she understood. It was as if her heart started up again and the warmness of hope and gratitude flooded her chest. Ana twisted her arms as far as she could, pressing down on the seat-belt ejector.

"The fuck are you doing, cunt?" Carlos asked, a split second later he realized that she wasn't bound to the seat anymore, "Shit!"

Ana took her chance and rolled to her right, hunching her shoulders as much as she could to protect her neck. The impact hurt the most, but rolling down the hill getting thrashed by the thick plants wasn't so great either. Once she was at the bottom, Ana worked on getting the switchblade Vaas had planted from her pocket. She tried her best to work calmly and quickly as she heard the vehicle skid to a halt on the loose gravel, if Carlos reached her before she was free she wouldn't have a hope in the world to get out alive. He could probably kill her with one blow.

Freeing the knife she took a breath and started cutting at the ropes. Carlos' heavy footfalls were getting closer, "Get over here, you fuckin' bitch!" he yelled.

He came into view just as the bindings fell from her wrists and she clasped the small weapon tightly, keeping her hands behind her back and feigning defencelessness.

"No! Please!" She cried, kicking away from him across the ground.

Thinking he had the upper hand, Carlos hovered over her, "Yeah, beg me, see what good that does ya." He closed one of his massive hands around her shoulder, pressing his thumb threateningly against her throat and she smirked.

She took immense pleasure in the look of confusion that crossed his face just before she plunged the switchblade into the side of his neck. He recoiled and she lunged at him, repeatedly stabbing him in the neck and face as she straddled his chest, the pirate didn't even have a chance to fight back. He started making vile gurgling noises in the back of his throat as he choked on his own blood and Ana stopped. She sat back on his stomach and smiled down at him as she watched the life leave his eyes, basking in the intoxicating feeling of control and power that was lacking in her old life.

"There's definitely something wrong with my head..." Ana scoffed with a slight smile, Vaas was an unpredictable, violent psychopath and she was his mentally unstable prisoner who apparently had a thing for watching people die. _What a match_, she thought to herself.

This time Vaas would truly have to believe that she was on his side; despite her initial outburst at his deceit about Mei. She tore a bloodied necklace from Carlos' neck and, in spite of her absolutely aching body, slowly crawled up the hill and limped to the driver's seat of the Jeep.

She couldn't survive in her condition out in the jungle anyway but that wasn't why she had decided to go back. She wanted to best the man that could not be bested, finally break down that wall of stubborn distrust and prove to him that she was serious. That he was wrong about her. She wouldn't be able to integrate back into normal society now anyway so to hell with it. She was going to enjoy the ride, however long it lasted.

She couldn't wait to see the look on his face.


	12. Chapter 12

**[A.N.] Hey guys, this is a short one but hope you like :O I'm going to add another author's note at the bottom just to explain how I plan to tackle Vaas and Ana's relationship, in case there's concern about him becoming too OOC.**

**Also thanks to everyone for the reviews/faves/follows! :) They make me happy and really make me enjoy writing, especially reviews heh, so thank you ^3^**

**X**

* * *

Vaas couldn't help but pace around his room, taking a swig from an open beer bottle that sat on his nightstand. But he couldn't even drink, he was too on edge. He sat down and formed a line of coke on a small table, beginning to curl a hundred dollar bill when there was a knock at the door. He dropped the bill and hurriedly walked to answer it, kicking empty bottles, cigarette boxes and other assorted objects out of the way.

"Fuck you want?" He addressed the pirate with frustration.

"I let you know Carlos on his way back, Jeep coming up road." The man said, his already broken English slurring with drunkenness.

Vaas didn't know how to react, he simply nodded. Anger rising in him at the unidentifiable emotion that just wracked his body. He shook it off and shooed the swaying man out the door. Vaas walked back to his line of cocaine and swore loudly, kicking the table over and watching as a small cloud bloomed from the white powder. He could now hear the approaching vehicle himself. Vaas picked up the now half-empty beer bottle off the floor and threw it full-force against his wall. It shattered, the warm, flat alcohol running lazily down the peeling paint. He wiped his palm on his pants, ridding it of the messy mixture of coke and beer, and headed for the door.

He walked coldly out towards the entrance of the encampment, to the growing roar of the Jeep motor. Flexing his jaw continuously, something bothered him about his Anaïs being dead, he had wanted her that way not ten hours ago but something had stopped him. He knew Carlos had it out for her and figured he would just pass the buck, but when she looked up at him pleading silently for help... He couldn't do it then, either. Something about her made him want to keep her around, but he wasn't sure what it was. It was unfamiliar and incredibly frustrating.

As he got closer to the entrance he heard the engine shut off and a commotion started among the group of men that had gathered there. They pooled around the entrance, craning their necks and chattering amongst themselves.

"Fuck out of my way..." Vaas growled, pushing past the first few men and quickening his pace as the others made way for him.

What he saw figuratively floored him. Ana clumsily exited the vehicle, clinging to it shakily for support. She limped slowly towards him, a hard look of determination on her face. His eyes darted repeatedly between hers, he couldn't believe that she had managed to escape let alone steal the Jeep. She jut out her hand in a closed fist, staring at him coldly. Vaas extended his own hand, lingering under hers as she peeled her blood-soaked fingers open and let the ruddy necklace drop into his palm.

"The fuck...?" Vaas breathed incredulously, Ana wiped sweat from her brow with her palm, leaving a streak of Carlos' blood across her face, her breathing quickened, becoming more shallow and she blinked repeatedly.

The girl started swaying , looking around, catching the looks of shocked pirates, confused hostages and a horrified Jenny whom she hadn't seen since her first week at the camp. Suddenly stars formed in her vision and a dark tunnel started to close in around her.

"Mierda-" Vaas muttered and reached out to catch Ana as she lost consciousness, dropping the necklace in the process, "Get back to work you fuckers, find Brody!" He shouted and the crowd quickly dispersed.

Carefully he gathered Ana up in his arms, trying not to put too much pressure on her thigh or any of the fresh bruises and scratches from whatever had happened with Carlos. He stalked back to his room, quickly placing the girl on his bed and grabbing his canteen and a dirty rag from the floor. Vaas soaked the rag with the cool water and placed it on her forehead. The sensation was enough to make her eyes flutter.

"Crazy bitch..." He shook his head in disbelief, "Why the fuck would you come back?" he asked, more to himself than to the barely awake girl before him.

"G-guess I'm kinda..." Ana struggled, her head bobbed to the side for a moment, eyes rolling back in her head briefly as she fought to stay conscious, "...broken too." she cocked her eyebrows at him tauntingly before passing out completely.

Vaas shook his head at her statement and cringed internally, it sounded like something out of the shitty bootlegged Hollywood movies he had. The pirate watched the girl for a while to make sure her steadied breathing would stay that way. He reached out his hand and brushed the sloppily chopped hair from her face. She had a slight bend in her brow, making her look troubled despite being out cold. It made him want to try and smooth it out with his thumb.

Vaas grabbed an old wooden chair and spun it around so that the back faced the bed. He sat on it backwards, propping his arms up and leaning his chin on them, watching Ana as she lay motionless on his bed.

His eyes scanned over her body. Fresh cuts littered her face, dark bruises surrounded her neck... Vaas remembered the horrified look in her eyes, staring into his as the blood vessel burst in her right one, rendering it completely red as he almost choked the life out of her.

Her arms were bruised as well, there was barely an undamaged patch on her body. Vaas brought his attention to his brand and her severed finger. He noticed fresh marks scratched across it as if it had been clawed at repeatedly and he flexed his jaw. His eyes trailed lower, marks on her abdomen and thighs along with the bandage that covered the gunshot wound, fresh scrapes on her knees and shins... Vaas' face remained composed but he felt something stir in his chest. He sighed heavily and rolled his head to rest his forehead on his arms before reaching up and running his hand roughly through his mohawk. He felt fidgety, tapping his heels against the wooden floor.

Vaas hated that he couldn't quite place how he felt about this girl. It didn't make sense to him that she would come back. After she lashed out at him and he was ready to kill her. He didn't know what her angle was, or why he slipped that switchblade into her back pocket. Vaas had granted her the chance she begged for. Knowing that Carlos would have no trouble snapping her neck, leaving her bound just didn't seem fair. He had expected her to maybe have been able to cut the bindings and buy herself some time. Maybe escape into the jungle if she was lucky and that would be that, be killed by a tiger, bear, or alligator or something. Vaas wouldn't have expected her to be able to steal the Jeep, and he definitely didn't think she would be smart enough, let alone strong enough in her weakened state, to actually take his right-hand man down.

Clearly he had underestimated the girl, and maybe she was being honest when she professed her loyalty to him.

Maybe, as long as his men didn't think he was going soft, he could keep her around. She had proven herself capable and loyal but his mind flooding with memories of Citra caused his distrust to bubble to the surface again. He shook his head, as if having a conversation with himself, maybe she wasn't like Citra. But that bitch got inside his head and was almost the death of him, he raised his hand again to trail hardened fingers over his largest scar, he decided he couldn't let his guard down like he did back then. But for now he'd give Ana the benefit of the doubt, maybe she really was as crazy as he was.

* * *

**[A.N.] Hello again :P Alright, this _is_ a Vaas/OC story so, obviously, there is eventually going to be some sort of real 'relationship' between them. However, I don't plan on having Vaas turn 'lovey-dovey' or anything like that. Personally, I feel that he's too far gone to go back to any sort of normalcy and having him be overly sweet and romantic and professing his love and stuff would seem too OOC for me. That's not to say that he won't have his moments or that his feelings aren't going to be real, but he's not going to go through a drastic change like that. He's too fucked up lol (imo). **


End file.
